Month: July 2022

Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias will travel to Paris, tomorrow, Friday, July 29, 2022, to hold a meeting with Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, Catherine Colonna.

This will be the first meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Greece and France since the formation of a new government in France following legislative elections held in June.
Following the talks between the Foreign Ministers and their delegations, the two Ministers will make joint statements to the press at approximately 20:30 (EEST).

Discussions are expected to focus on further strengthening the Greece-France strategic partnership, on developments in the Eastern Mediterranean – in the light of the Minister’s visit to Cyprus (July 28), the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the new European Security Architecture, and the situation in the Western Balkans, as well as on developments in Libya and the Sahel region.

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic

Dear Minister,

My dear Giannakis,

It is a great pleasure for me to be in Nicosia today. It’s been a few months since my last visit, and a month since Prime Minister Mitsotakis’ visit.

And, of course, I’d like to thank you very much for the great honour of addressing earlier the Heads of the Republic of Cyprus’ Diplomatic Missions abroad.

The Greek Government remains fully committed to achieving a just and viable solution to the Cyprus issue; a solution based on the UN Security Council Resolutions; a solution compatible with the European acquis, namely a bicommunal, bizonal federation.

The resolution of the Cyprus issue in this context constitutes the highest priority of Greek foreign policy.

Thank you very much for giving me an update on the proposals for the Confidence Building Measures presented by President Anastasiades. Proposals that the President himself was kind enough to develop for me during our meeting this morning. We fully support these proposals, despite the Turkish Cypriot side’s expected, though regrettable, rejection.

We share your realistic approach regarding the prospects for the resumption of negotiations, which are, sadly, not promising.

And, of course, we reject and condemn any proposal of a ‘two-state solution’, which is being presented by Turkish officials and representatives of the Turkish Cypriot community.

Looking for a ray of optimism though, I would emphasize that the debate on the new text of the UN Security Council Resolution on the renewal of UNFICYP was held in a consensual atmosphere, despite the general polarization that prevails at the moment.

I want to assure you that we are always in constant and close coordination, particularly in the face of an attempt to create a new fait accompli both on the ground and at sea, in violation of International Law and the International Law of the Sea, the UNCLOS.

I recall that the relevant European Union decisions are in force and we expect Turkey to comply with them.

Apart from the Cyprus issue, we also had the opportunity to discuss the broader developments in the Eastern Mediterranean. I had the opportunity to report on Turkey’s provocative conduct, both in terms of rhetoric and on the ground.
However, our discussions are never limited to a single topic.

We also examined our cooperation within the European Union in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

And, as you rightfully pointed out, Ukraine and Cyprus are both cases of flagrant violation of International Law.

But that’s where the similarities end.

Because 48 years ago, the international community did not react to the invasion of Cyprus the way it should have reacted.

And we must keep in mind that the invasion and illegal occupation of territory in Ukraine is not the only example of invasion in Europe.

We must also not fail to underline that revisionism is no longer an acceptable practice, and it cannot be accepted even passively by the international community.

Both the Hellenic Republic and the Republic of Cyprus have taken a principled stance.
We both fully implement European sanctions despite the cost this entails for our societies.

Because for us, this decision is a one-way street. It is about our values and principles; it is about the values and principles that all states must adhere to.

We also discussed our cooperation in various areas; we discussed trilateral and multilateral schemes, the 3+1 format with the United States, our developing relations with India, and the European perspective of the Western Balkans.

We are both satisfied with the convening of the first intergovernmental conference with Albania and North Macedonia.

We are both very well aware that the pace of the region’s integration into the European family needs to be accelerated and we have been able to discuss how we can assist the Western Balkans to come closer to the EU. We can act as a catalyst in this regard.

I had the opportunity to give an update on what was discussed at the NATO Summit in Madrid.

I’d also like to state that, both within NATO and the framework of EU-NATO cooperation, Greece will ensure that Cyprus’ interests are fully safeguarded.

As the Minister said, I will conclude with what is obvious.

At all times, Greece will continue to stand by the Republic of Cyprus; Greece will continue to stand by the side of the Cypriot people.

Thank you very much for the hospitality and, if I may say so, the love that you show me every time I visit Cyprus.

JOURNALIST: Mr. Dendias, your Turkish counterpart intends to submit a letter to the United Nations regarding the Turkish positions. How will you respond to that?

N. DENDIAS: First of all, we will see what it is all about. Greece has actually responded.
The most recent Greek letter covers quite sufficiently the entirety of arguments. Greece does not intend to spend its time in a perpetual exchange of letters with Turkey. If, of course, the Turkish side raises a new argument that needs to be answered, it will be answered. But if I may say so, what needed to be said about these things, I believe, has already been stated.

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic

The United States denounced as “inexcusable” remarks by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban warning against creating “peoples of mixed race.”

U.S. envoy against anti-Semitism Deborah Lipstadt said she was “deeply alarmed” by the right-wing nationalist prime minister’s “use of rhetoric that clearly evokes Nazi racial ideology.”

Decades after the end of the Holocaust, it is “inexcusable for a leader to make light of Nazi mass murder,” Lipstadt said.

State Department spokesman Ned Price read Lipstadt’s statement to reporters during a briefing on July 28. Price added that Orban’s remarks “are not reflective of the shared values that tether the United States to Hungary.”

Orban triggered a wave of scathing criticism after he warned on July 23 against mixing with “non-Europeans” in a speech in Romania’s Transylvania region, home to a sizable ethnic Hungarian minority.

He defended his comments earlier on July 28, saying they represented a “cultural, civilizational standpoint.”

“It happens sometimes that I speak in a way that can be misunderstood…the position that I represent is a cultural, civilizational standpoint,” Orban told a joint press conference with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer during a one-day visit to neighboring Austria.

In his July 23 speech at Baile Tusnad Summer University, Orban said: “We move, we work elsewhere, we mix within Europe, but we don’t want to be a mixed race,” a “multi-ethnic” people who would mix with “non-Europeans.”

During the same speech, Orban also seemed to allude to the gas chambers used by the Nazis in Germany when criticizing a Brussels plan to reduce European gas demand by 15 percent following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“For example, there is the latest proposal from the EU Commission, which says that everyone should be obliged to reduce their gas consumption by 15 percent. I don’t see how that should be enforced, although there is German know-how for this, from the past, I think,” Orban told the thousands-strong audience.

Hungary was the only EU member to oppose the gas-reduction plan, which passed on a majority vote this week.

A longtime adviser to Orban, Zsuzsa Hegedus, resigned on July 26, slamming Orban’s speech as “a pure Nazi text,” while Jewish community representatives voiced alarm.

Referring to Orban’s speech as “stupid and dangerous,” the International Auschwitz Committee called on the EU to continue to distance itself from “Orban’s racist undertones and to make it clear to the world that a Mr. Orban has no future in Europe.”

The speech reminds Holocaust survivors “of the dark times of their own exclusion and persecution,” the organization’s vice president, Christoph Heubner, said in a statement on July 26.

More than half a million Hungarian Jews were systematically exterminated during the Nazi Holocaust in World War II.

Heubner called on the EU and specifically on Austria’s Nehammer to make a stand ahead of Orban’s visit and distance themselves from “Orban’s racist undertones.”

Nehammer said on July 28 that the issue had been “resolved…amicably and in all clarity,” adding his country “strongly condemned…any form of racism or anti-Semitism.”

Austria is the first EU country to host Orban for talks since he won a fourth straight mandate in an April landslide.

The Hungarian premier has in the past targeted migrants from Africa and the Middle East, as well as NGOs that support them, restricting the right to seek asylum and putting up barriers at borders.

Copyright (c) 2015. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.