AL. PAPAIOANNOU: Good morning. First of all, many happy returns, Christ is Risen. This is the first time we have met after Easter. I hope you took a break, even a short one. I'm glad we are meeting again and of course, we will do so regularly from now on. Unfortunately, it’s been some time since we had our last briefing but of course due to our trips and obligations, it is not always easy.
There is a packed schedule ahead, especially for the Minister, but also for the Alternate Minister and the Deputy Ministers as well, so allow me to be brief. I will tell you about the schedule. Let me tell you a few things about each of the contacts scheduled and then, as always, I will be at your disposal for questions, to discuss other issues. For now, I will not make any further introductory remarks.
First, the Minister is currently meeting with the Ambassador of Iran. He will then speak with Mr. Kasoulides, his counterpart from the Republic of Cyprus.
K. FRYSSA: Will he talk to Mr. Kasoulides by phone?
A. PAPAIOANNOU: By telephone. I would have told you if Mr. Kasoulides were here. No, there will be a telephone communication. They talk all the time anyway; they see each other all the time as well.
Tomorrow, the Minister will be in Madrid, Spain, at the invitation of his Spanish counterpart, José Manuel Albares. The Spanish Foreign Minister, as you may remember, visited Athens in early December last year. It will be the 3rd bilateral meeting he will have with his Spanish counterpart. They also met in Slovenia. I am talking about bilateral meetings; how many times they have met in the margins of Councils is another matter, I am talking about strictly bilateral meetings.
They met in Slovenia on the sidelines of an informal meeting of European Union Foreign Ministers, and in this context his Spanish counterpart invited him to Madrid, where - as you can imagine - the main issue they will discuss is the developments in Ukraine, the European Union’s stance following the Russian invasion. The other issue is the Eastern Mediterranean, at least we will inform him on our part. And also, in general, the developments in the region of the Western Mediterranean that directly concern Spain, North Africa and the challenges, the Sahel region in which, as you know, we attach special interest.
During his stay in Spain, the Minister will also meet, first with the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Spanish Congress, Mr. Paul Marí-Klose, and then with the Speaker of the Congress of Deputies, Ms. Meritxell Batet.
He is returning to Athens tomorrow night. There will be joint statements to the press at approximately 15:45 (Madrid time), that is 16:45 (Greek time).
Well, on Europe Day, Monday, May 9, there is a very busy schedule. First of all, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kenya, Ms. Raychelle Omamo, is visiting Athens. Let me remind you that the Minister has already met with his Kenyan counterpart, last year on the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition against Daesh in Rome and agreed to continue these contacts.
I would also like to emphasise that Kenya is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, so it plays a very important role. In this context, there will be a one-on-one meeting, expanded talks and then joint statements at approximately 14:00. So, there will be joint statements to the press by both the Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kenya, Ms. Omamo at two o'clock (Greek time) on Monday.
Later in the day, at around 17:00 pm, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Dendias will hold a videoconference with his Cypriot counterpart, Mr. Kasoulides, his Israeli counterpart, Mr. Lapid, and his US counterpart, Mr. Blinken, in the context of the “3 + 1” format.
As you can imagine, the key issues they will discuss will be, on the one hand, the political developments in the Eastern Mediterranean region, and, on the other hand, the expansion of cooperation between the three countries and the United States in many areas, including energy.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs is convening on Tuesday, May 10, where the text, the bill for the ratification of the Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement between Greece and the United States, the MDCA, which was signed in Washington by Mr. Dendias and Mr. Blinken last October will be introduced.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs is then expected to hold some meetings with Ambassadors, newly-appointed and outgoing ones. Specifically, he will meet with the new ambassador of the United States, Mr. Tsounis. And then he will have a farewell meeting with the Ambassador of Chile.
On Wednesday, May 11, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Dendias, will travel to Marrakesh, Morocco, to participate in the proceedings of the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to defeat Daesh/ISIS, the Islamic State.
On the sidelines of this Ministerial Meeting, the Minister is expected to hold some bilateral contacts with his counterparts who will be there. At the moment I cannot share any details with you yet for the very simple reason that not all meetings have been finalised. I will inform you in due time, we try to schedule as many meetings as possible and especially with countries with which we do not have such regular contacts.
And that is in the context of expanding our contacts, but also promoting our candidacy for the Security Council. This effort never stops.
On Thursday, May 12, there will be a debate in the Plenary Session of the Parliament on the ratification of the law on the Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement and of course the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Dendias will attend.
On Friday the 13th -fortunately for us Friday the 13th has no symbolism-, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain, Mr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, will visit our country.
Let me remind you that the Foreign Minister travelled to Manama, Bahrain, last November, and participated in the ‘Manama Dialogue’. In fact, he was the only European Foreign Minister to attend. There were many other Foreign Ministers present, mainly from the region.
The next day he had a bilateral meeting with his counterpart from Bahrain and in that context, they discussed the development of bilateral cooperation with the Gulf countries and in that case with Bahrain.
On Monday and Tuesday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs will travel to Washington D.C., where he will accompany the Prime Minister.
Beyond that, we already have a lot of things underway, but let me leave something for the next briefing. I won’t give everything away. They have not been finalised yet, anyway. So, I do not want to anticipate.
Well, that’s all about the Minister’s schedule. As you can see, we have made a strong come back after Easter.
Now, regarding the Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Varvitsiotis’ schedule. First, on Sunday the 8th, he will attend an event – a discussion with young people, organised by the European Parliament Liaison Office and the Representation of the European Commission in Greece, at Zappeion, on the occasion of "Europe Day" (which is the next day) and the declaration of the year 2022 as the "European Year of Youth".
Let me emphasise that this event is taking place in the context of the "Conference on the Future of Europe".
On Thursday, the 12th, the Alternate Minister, Mr. Varvitsiotis, will hold here, in Athens, a trilateral meeting with his Bulgarian and Romanian counterparts, the Bulgarian Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr. Vasil Georgiev and the Secretary of State for European affairs of Romania, Ms. Daniela Grigore Gîtman.
The agenda of this meeting will focus on the situation in Ukraine, energy, the EU enlargement to the Western Balkans, the migration-refugee issue and the wider developments in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Finally, on Thursday, May 19, the Alternate Minister will travel to Turin, Italy to represent Greece at the Ministerial Meeting of the member states of the Council of Europe.
Now, regarding the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Economic Diplomacy, Mr. Fragogiannis’ schedule. He will accompany the Prime Minister on Sunday, May 8 and Monday, May 9, during his visit to the United Arab Emirates.
On Thursday, May 12, he will travel to Berlin for the 5th round of inter-ministerial consultations within the framework of the Greek-German Action Plan. Shortly afterwards, on May 12-14, he will travel to Stockholm, where he will meet with Swedish Minister for Foreign Trade Anna Hallberg, he will inaugurate the local branch of the Hellenic-Swedish Chamber, and, finally, hold meetings with entrepreneurs.
Shortly afterwards, the Deputy Minister will also accompany the Prime Minister on his visit to Washington.
At the moment, as regards the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Greek Diaspora, Mr. Katsaniotis, there isn’t anything scheduled, but we will come back to his agenda, there will be relevant announcements.
That’s what I wanted to say by way of introduction. I do not wish to tire you anymore and of course I am at your disposal. Ms. Fryssa, over to you.
K. FRYSSA: Katerina Fryssa from ERT. As the Foreign Minister begins his visit to Spain tomorrow, I would like to ask if there will be any joint humanitarian initiative on Ukraine.
Whether there will be some joint initiative of Athens with Madrid or some mobilisation of the two countries on the issue of war and the provision of assistance, especially as regards Mariupol.
A. PAPAIOANNOU: Look, there is nothing specific organised with Madrid that we are discussing at the moment. At this moment, as you know, there have already been announcements for the rebuilding of the Mariupol maternity hospital. The Prime Minister made a commitment on this a long time ago, because we have said that we will return there.
What the Minister has also announced is the provision of humanitarian aid, when conditions allow. As you can see, as we all witness, unfortunately the situation on the ground is, to put it very simply, tragic and at the moment any humanitarian aid to embattled Mariupol is virtually impossible to be provided by anyone. From what I understand, even the Red Cross, the International Committee of the Red Cross, although being very familiar with war zones, finds great difficulty to have access.
But, beyond that, let me remind you that we are doing what we can. As you have already seen, the Minister travelled to Odessa, he himself delivered humanitarian aid, then the rest was sent. There have been more humanitarian aid missions to Odessa and we are doing everything possible.
Please, Mr. Michos.
P. MICHOS: Good morning, Panagiotis Michos from " To Vima" newspaper.
Mr. Spokesperson, last week the Turkish Republic carried out a barrage of unprecedented aggression, with violations, overflights and so on. This falls solely within the competence of the Ministry of Defence, but we made some protest demarches. I want to ask you, what is the Greek diplomacy’s reading of the situation, what is Turkey seeking, why is there this sudden barrage a month and a half following the Prime Minister's meeting with President Erdogan? Are we worried that there may be further escalation from Ankara? Thank you very much.
A. PAPAIOANNOU: Thank you very much. If my memory serves me correctly – which unfortunately serves me less with each passing day- within one day, last Wednesday, exactly a week ago, there were 168 violations of Greek airspace and 42 overflights within one day.
Let me remind you that the highest number of overflights of Turkish aircraft over Greek territory, until last Wednesday, took place in 2020, at a time when we had an escalation of Turkish unlawful conduct and also, forgive me, I may be wrong, if I'm not mistaken it was 23. So, that is about half within one day.
In 2020 we had a record of overflights within one year, we had if I am not mistaken 393. In 2019 we had around 139-140 overflights, - which was the previous record, negative of course, always negative, when we say record, that usually has a positive meaning, in this case it is very negative - which I am telling you was a record then. Well, now we had 42 overflights within one day.
Why am I listing all these statistics? Because numbers simply speak for themselves. I think I do not need to add too many things.
What I would like to emphasise is that first there were overflights of Greek territory and inhabited areas, over several islands of the Eastern Aegean, Rhodes, Kos, Kalymnos and Samos, among others. This was an unprecedented escalation of tension on the part of Turkey, a provocative conduct. Unfortunately, I cannot describe it in any other way.
And just as you said, it certainly goes against the climate that we have been trying and we are trying to create, a climate of good neighbourliness. We are always in favour of good relations with Turkey, of course on the basis of International Law.
Here we are talking about a clear violation of Greek sovereignty which of course cannot go unanswered. And that is why we did something we are not used to; two consecutive protest demarches were made in two days here in Athens by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Mr. Demiris, to the Turkish Ambassador, to whom everything I mentioned to you was emphasised.
At the same time, we also emphasised what we do not want to be forgotten, that in this very critical and difficult juncture for Europe and the Atlantic Alliance in general, NATO, Turkey's behaviour is contrary to fundamental rules of International Law but at the same time it has a very negative impact, it affects the cohesion of NATO.
Also, I want to say that we have conveyed this to the Turkish side. As written in our statement, it was first conveyed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs himself, Mr. Dendias, who spoke with Ambassadors accredited here in Athens in those days. The Minister had several contacts and underlined this fact.
Instructions were given, and at the same time the UN, the European Union, NATO were informed. You heard that the Prime Minister also spoke with the Secretary General of NATO, Mr. Stoltenberg about this issue. It was something unprecedented and we conveyed our dissatisfaction.
Now, why this escalation, why now, you will allow me, that is a matter of several analyses. And you will also allow me to refrain from entering into analyses or interpretations that may or may not be correct. Thank you very much.
From the back, Mr. Melissopoulos and then…
K. MELISSOPOULOS: I would like you to tell me this, Mr. Spokesperson: do you have any estimation, any assessment, not so much as to why, but as to the goal of the sharp escalation of tension on the part of Turkey. Is there any scenario, any estimation, to put it simply, as to what they are getting at, what they are aiming for?
A. PAPAIOANNOU: Look, it goes without saying that both we and the competent bodies in general make assessments, as we ought to, and design our overall policy.
We, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – and I need to stress this - have a consistent practice that we follow in these cases. What we emphasise both to our Turkish interlocutors and to other friends and allies, partners and allies, is that we demand respect for the basic principles, respect for the fundamental rules of International Law; we do not ask for anything unrealistic.
This is what we are asking for. And of course, we demand respect for our national sovereignty. And let me tell you something else: we are not the only ones demanding it. All states demand it. We ask, of course, for this to be respected by the Turkish side as well.
K. TSAMOURI: Katerina Tsamouri from STAR Channel news program. Mr. Spokesperson, we see that since last Thursday, if I am not mistaken, when the country's air defence was activated, these violations have stopped.
Do you attribute it to the fact that our air defence systems “locked on”, to put it simply, the Turkish F-16 aircraft and since then they disappeared from our airspace or to some diplomatic moves that you might want to share with us or that you intend to proceed to, so that we do not witness similar situations in the future? Thanks.
A. PAPAIOANNOU: As regards the air defence part, it falls entirely outside my competence and I cannot comment on it, nor can I judge what has happened. This is clearly an issue for the Ministry of National Defence.
As for our diplomatic initiatives: of course, our goal, both with the Turkish side and with our partners, was precisely to tone down the rhetoric, to reduce tensions, and that was the message we conveyed, as I said before, to our partners and allies, which is precisely that, regardless of the context it occurs, this situation is condemnable and unacceptable. This is one thing. But, beyond that, at a time when the attention of the entire Western world is focused on the crisis in Ukraine, the Turkish side should not take the opportunity to reiterate its illegal claims.
That was the message that we got across and I would say that we did so in a perfectly clear manner and without much fanfare.
ST. IOANNIDIS: Mr. Spokesperson, Turkey presented a non-paper and passed some information to journalists claiming that Greek fighter aircraft committed violations, it even went on to provide evidence it had allegedly collected from radars that contains dates and number of violations. This is something relatively new. We have heard it before from Turkey, but never in such detail. Do you think this is a new narrative that Ankara will use in order to maintain tensions and to have an excuse to go on doing what it did last Wednesday? Thank you.
A. PAPAIOANNOU: I do not know what narrative Turkey may want to use, what I know is that its actions are condemnable. It cannot violate our airspace and carry out overflights over Greek islands and we have stressed that we consider this situation to be totally unacceptable.
As I said before – pardon me for being tiresome, I reiterate as I want to emphasise it - this whole thing was condemnable and that is the reason why we proceeded to make the strong-worded demarches.
A. FOTAKI: Alexandra Fotaki from ‘TA NEA’ newspaper. Were you satisfied with the State Department's response regarding the overflights, in view of the contacts planned to be made in Washington in the coming days?
A. PAPAIOANNOU: I cannot talk about what will be discussed, of course, because it is the Prime Minister's trip to Washington. But as far as I know, it goes without saying that the issue of violations, escalation of tensions and overflights will be raised during the contacts. I consider this to be self-evident, without wanting to interfere in such issues, because it is the Prime Minister’s visit. The Minister of Foreign Affairs will also be present, surely, but it is the Prime Minister’s visit.
It just so happened that the very next day, shortly after the demarche, the second demarche made by Mr. Demiris, the Minister of Foreign Affairs was hosting a farewell lunch for the outgoing US Ambassador, Mr. Pyatt, where in the presence of the other attendees he expressed his dissatisfaction with this unacceptable and condemnable incident.
A. FOTAKI: What about the State Department's response?
A. PAPAIOANNOU: I have already answered your question Ms. Fotaki, allow me.
M. KOURBELA: Mr. Spokesperson, I do not know whether the issue has been covered, as I arrived a little late, but today the Ministers of the European Union are deciding on the issue of the sixth round of sanctions. Many countries do not agree to an embargo on oil from Russia and what is your answer to all of them? Is Greece included in them?
A. PAPAIOANNOU: Greece, as we have emphasised to all our interlocutors, is aligned and implements all sanctions decided by the European Union – on which of course Greece also co-decides - we fully implement them at whatever cost this may involve. And of course, if you will allow me to reiterate, it would be altogether desirable if other countries that at least aspire to have a European perspective were in line with the European Union's decisions on sanctions.
A. VITALIS: Mr. Spokesperson, if you allow me to return to the previous issue, you were clear when you provided the figures from previous years. In the two demarches made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs it was clearly stated that there is violation of Greek sovereignty. You said it yourself that there were overflights of inhabited islands.
My question is whether this theory of Turkey and what it constantly claims, linking the demilitarisation of the islands, especially in the Eastern Aegean, with the issue of Greek sovereignty has been answered at the highest level, always by diplomatic means. Have these issues been answered legally and politically at the diplomatic level, Mr. Spokesperson? We are talking about Mr. Sinirlioglu's two letters to the UN.
A. PAPAIOANNOU: Of course. Let me tell you something more general, if you will allow me. Our position on this issue, that is, the issue of demilitarisation of the islands of the Eastern Aegean, our positions are well-known and we are all aware of them, Turkey has been aware of them for decades. It's not something we need to repeat on a daily basis.
Our positions are firm and based on International Law. But since you asked me about the letters of the Permanent Representative of Turkey to the United Nations, as is customary, these letters are not addressed to us.
They are addressed to the UN Secretary-General. The first letter was sent in July 2021 and has already been answered. Then there was a second letter by the Turkish Permanent Representative, which of course we will answer, outlining our legal and political arguments, which, as I told you, are based on the fundamental - I cannot think of another word - principles of International Law. They are ‘rock solid’, to use the English expression.
Ms. Fotaki, if there is no other question, pardon me.
A. FOTAKI: You were recently in Israel, in the days when Mr. Lavrov’s comments were made. First of all, I would like you to tell me what the purpose of your meeting was and how our cooperation will continue. What will happen regarding the ‘3 + 1’ format, whether there will be a meeting with physical presence, apart from a video conference, afterwards. And your comment on what was said in relation to Lavrov's statements.
A. PAPAIOANNOU: Three in one. Well, regarding the ‘3 + 1’ format, as I mentioned, the teleconference will take place next Monday afternoon. There will be a teleconference for the simple reason that it was not possible for the schedules of the four Ministers to coincide so that they could all be in the same place. There is nothing else, and that is why this solution was found.
Beyond that, I consider the fact that this Ministerial meeting - which has been discussed in the past – will take place to be of particular importance. For us the important thing is that this meeting is taking place and it is something that we had repeatedly requested; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Dendias had discussed it with his US interlocutors, as well as with others. We wanted this framework to also include a meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and not to be confined to specific areas only.
Besides, this constitutes an umbrella for our cooperation. So, I consider the meeting itself to be a particularly important step in this direction and beyond that of course the rest follows.
Indeed, I was in Israel from Sunday until late last night. This is part of the cooperation between the two Ministers and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs.
I was invited by the Deputy Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Head of Public Diplomacy. I had an extremely busy day; Monday especially was fully packed. I had contacts with the officials of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs on issues of Public Diplomacy.
Essentially, the purpose was to get their know-how regarding issues of Public Diplomacy. It was a truly excellent experience for me. I say this with all sincerity, I have learned a lot and I am sure that I will learn even more, because I would say that Israel is very far ahead in this field.
They have taken very important steps. If you allow me, I will make just two remarks: the one - which indirectly concerns you precisely because here in Greece we have not fully realised it - is that Public Diplomacy is actually diplomacy. It is not a sideline. It's something that should be a key part of the work of a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and we see that all the time.
This is one main conclusion, the other one being the use of new technologies, the use of social media, a field where again Israel operates at an altogether different level. Beyond that, my visit was truly revealing.
I made this visit wearing, allow me the expression, two hats: on the one hand the hat of the Spokesperson and on the other the hat of the coordinator for the reform of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The visit falls within the framework of the excellent cooperation between the two sides, in the same manner the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Dendias, will meet with Mr. Lapid – I have lost count of the times they have met. Allow me, however, to make one point. In addition to the fact that we were cordially welcomed and treated, I was particularly impressed when the country’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs came to the premises where Greece’s Ambassador to Tel Aviv, staff from the Embassy and I were holding our meetings and greeted us, something that had not been scheduled.
Unfortunately, we were present there when the statements by the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs were made and it was interesting to see the reaction unfolding. I would like on the part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make a more general comment.
As you know, we attach great importance to combatting antisemitism and, of course, we condemn any act of antisemitism. Let me also recall that until a while ago, about a month ago, Greece held the IHRA Chairmanship, where one of the main concerns is precisely to preserve the memory of the Holocaust. And I will reiterate precisely that we condemn antisemitism. This is not subject to interpretation.
M. KOURBELA: First of all, allow me to introduce myself. It is the first time I’ve come here. My name is Marina Kourbela and I am a contributor to Enetpress. Mr. Spokesperson, with regard to economic diplomacy, I would like to ask you this: when the Belgian monarchs King Phillipe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium visited Greece, they were accompanied by a large business delegation. Is there any follow-up? And another relevant question: in the context of economic diplomacy, is there any follow-up to the government’s very interesting campaigns, since this is a recurring problem? Have you tackled this problem; will you tackle it? We do not know whether there are any follow-ups yielding results. Are you keeping track of this?
A. PAPAIOANNOU: I will answer your first question, which is simple: unfortunately, I do not know what the outcome was. There were contacts, there were Belgian entrepreneurs accompanying the King and Queen of the Belgians, representing large companies. There were contacts, but I do not know what the outcome was, because you know many times there aren’t any immediate results.
I remember I had the opportunity to accompany missions led by our President of the Republic a long time ago, with the participation of entrepreneurs, where the main purpose was to have direct contacts between businessmen in order to explore whether there were areas of common interest.
So, a tangible result is not always visible immediately upon visit. It may take a month or a year to mature, it depends, and these visits provide precisely an opportunity for these contacts to take place.
You are right about follow-ups; it is always a challenge how to keep track of them. We try to do this first through our Embassies or through our Missions abroad.
If I am not mistaken, we maintain 41 Offices of Economic and Commercial Affairs abroad – pardon me for quoting numbers too many times - which are co-located with our Missions abroad, and have the responsibility on the one hand to provide assistance to Greek entrepreneurs and on the other to try to attract investment, to conduct research, to assist, that is, to provide insight into the commercial environment.
Beyond that, the case with follow-ups - and I have gained my own personal experience of this – is that entrepreneurs do not necessarily provide information, so we might not be updated on an important result. After all, they are private individuals, they have no obligation to inform us. But we are there to provide our services and help deepen relations, which is why we maintain the Offices of Economic and Commercial Affairs.
Thank you so much. This is where the briefing ends.
May 4, 2022