PRESIDENT: Mr. Minister, come in. Tell me, I see there is …
D. AVRAMOPOULOS: A lot happening.
PRESIDENT: Precisely. The letter you wrote in response to Mr. Davutoglu’s was very good. I read it carefully.
D. AVRAMOPOULOS: And let me tell you, since you mentioned it, that the principle of honest diplomacy counts – it gets results. Everyone has to know what everyone else means, and sincerity, as incompatible as it may seem to be with the term diplomacy – as things evolved – brings results in the end.
On the other hand, I must say that our country’s position is gradually being recast in our geopolitical environment, which is in a phase of flux and major changes.
We have a targeted policy for all of this, and compared to what I had to tell you last time, we have taken steps forward, positive steps, and we are moving ahead.
PRESIDENT: Yes, I followed your trips – important trips.
And also, what’s happening with the reparations? This interests me personally, because I was the one who, in 1995, submitted the NOTA to the German government.
D. AVRAMOPOULOS: A report was submitted and, when it had been assessed by our Ministry’s services, it was forwarded to the State Legal Service. Because if we are to move ahead, we will need to have a strong legal foundation, because a move like this is more legal and less political in nature. Because the political foundation is a given. The government moved this issue forward – as it should have done – and of course we are awaiting the opinion of the State Legal Service, which I don’t think will be long in coming, so that we can move ahead to the next steps.
April 10, 2013