JOURNALIST: Good afternoon, Mr. Kotzias.
N. KOTZIAS: Good afternoon, and you find me in Athens.
JOURNALIST: You didn’t leave after all. Tell me what happened …
N. KOTZIAS: We boarded the plane, taxied and were waiting to take off. The attack in Istanbul happened. We were flying to Istanbul to catch a flight from there to Vietnam. I was to fly on to China on Saturday, and from there to Warsaw, for the NATO Summit.
JOURNALIST: So you had almost started your journey …
N. KOTZIAS: Yes, of course, we had started. We were on the runway and they informed us that, due to the terrorist attack, we wouldn’t be flying. We tried to find flights from other parts of Europe or the Middle East that would get us to Vietnam tonight. Unfortunately, there are no flights – it is a difficult route to Vietnam. And so we postponed the Singapore-Vietnam trip for October, probably. I will be going to China on Saturday, as scheduled.
JOURNALIST: Right, I understand …
N. KOTZIAS: And I want to express two things: my grief and my support for all of the citizens of Turkey who are being hit by terrorism, and our support for the Turkish government inconfronting this problem. Greece takes no joy in such attacks. Such attacks are, in fact, inhuman, they are against the very nature and life of people and the whole world. They are the result of blind ideology, passion and extremism.
JOURNALIST: It’s just as you say. Let me ask now what the callers to the station are asking first. Is there any information to the effect that there is a Greek among the thirty-six …
N. KOTZIAS: As of 11:30 last night, a half-hour later, we had a unit from the Istanbul Consulate General at the airport, providing assistance to Greek citizens. As far as we have been informed by the Turkish authorities – because, you know, they don’t give out a lot of information – luckily, at least as far as we know, there was no Greek citizen among the victims.
JOURNALIST: Neither the fatalities nor the injured.
N. KOTZIAS: We have noreport of anyone injured – at least from the Istanbul Consulate General. And I would like to congratulate the Greek diplomats and other personnel of our Consulate, who, shortly before midnight yesterday, were vigilant guardians of Hellenism and of the Greek citizens travelling in Istanbul – a great number of travelers. It was, as you know, the third attack in Istanbul.
JOURNALIST: What is the reason for this region’s being such a target?
N. KOTZIAS: Istanbul is a very big city, 18 million, with a very complex mix of populations, from different regions of Turkey. It is being used, apparently, by Daesh, by ISIS, for terrorist attacks aimed mainly as saying that no one is safe, neither in the large international airport of Istanbul, nor in Istanbul itself or, more generally, in Turkey.
I think it is an intimidation attack. Terrorism, especially, usually wants to create a psychological mechanism of fear, and it uses this fear as a foothold to pursue what it wants to impose.
JOURNALIST: Geopolitically, the region is in turmoil right now, isn’t it?
N. KOTZIAS: Look, if you remember, you are an excellent journalist and, as a result, the question is rhetorical. When I became Foreign Minister, the first figure I set out, and I explained it to our partners, is that Greece is living within a triangle of destabilization and insecurity; a triangle formed by Ukraine, at the top, with the war between the eastern regions and the government in Kiev, Libya, where we had the battle against the extremists and various factions, and the Middle East, especially in Syria and, next door, in Iraq. I said that Greece is a zone of stability, geopolitical stability, geostrategic stability, of which our government is taking great care, through alliances and cooperation in the region. And, as a result, it would be a great mistake, rather than our using Greece as a starting point for waves of stabilization to the region, for some to try to send the destabilizing waves of the region to hit Athens and the rest of the country.
JOURNALIST: And you were proven right in a tragic manner, unfortunately.
N. KOTZIAS: Yes, despite all the accusations I heard at the time from the international press and from some …
JOURNALIST: Okay, there was criticism, but in practice …
N. KOTZIAS: … but we have to open the way, and in politics you have to have a sense, and especially in foreign policy, and think a little further ahead than the tip of your nose, and I think that our conduct and our policy, the friendship we have developed, particularly with Bulgaria, as well as our consultations with the rest of the Balkan countries, the triangles of stability we have shaped, Greece-Cyprus-Israel, Greece-Cyprus-Egypt, Greece-Cyprus-Lebanon and Jordan, the major Conference to which we are inviting six European countries and six Arab countries, on Rhodes, on 8 and 9 September, all of these are actions that help the stability of the region and help to make Greece a pole of stability against, unfortunately, the phenomena we have in other countries.
JOURNALIST: Is all this accepted by the European Union? Now that we also have the other case, the Brexit …
N. KOTZIAS: Yes, I think it is accepted. You may have seen, on Monday, we had an invitation, together with ten other states we met in Warsaw, and it really is mystifying, if you will excuse me, that certain of your colleagues criticized us for talking to the Poles, who are anti-European, as if we do not need, as a member state of the European Union, to talk to all sides. I remind you that, on Monday morning, before the Warsaw meeting, Steinmeier had seen the Poles and the other three Visegrad countries; that is, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. We talked with Steinmeier. Greece’s policy is not to allow the creation of bigger chasms in Europe, to avert further fragmentation. Greece, which is not among the large and strong countries, but is not just a plain new member state of the EU either – it was the tenth state to join the then EEC, now the EU – has a special role. We are certainly trusted and we can contribute to the building of bridges. In fact, when I was in Poland I said this, also responding to various complaints and views: An old Greek saying says that we often find piles of stones before us. We can use these piles of stones in three ways, of which Greece rejects the first two. The first is to stone our other partners in the EU. The second is – as a newspaper called on me to do today – to build walls and not talk to others. And the third is to build bridges of understanding and friendship; bridges that give a special role to a medium-size country like Greece.
JOURNALIST: The walls, of course, also found rhetorical ground in the UK, and we see the results.
N. KOTZIAS: You are absolutely right. We have no desire – just because we have different views from other EU member states – to stop talking to them. In a family, there are different views. Greece’s special role arises from the trust shown it by the other countries; trust that is growing.
JOURNALIST: And we don’t want to be isolated, because that will give ground to rhetoric that is not positive, not just for Europe, but more generally. Let me ask something else, given that you mentioned Mr. Steinmeier, with whom you have an old acquaintance …
N. KOTZIAS: We have also studied at the same university, even though some newspapers have credited me with a biography that differs from what was actually the case.
JOURNALIST: I want to ask you, Mr. Minister, how are relations with Germany at this critical phase?
N. KOTZIAS: That’s a very interesting question. I will reveal to you something that I haven’t talked about yet – you know I rarely speak publicly. And today I wanted to express my solidarity with the Turkish people.
We have built a number of new foreign policy tools. One of these is the so-called “Action Plan,” which means to pull together all of the cooperation issues with one country that we consider important for our interests, from culture and education to investments and the economy, in the cooperation with one country that we consider important for our interests. We are in the process of drawing up the joint agreement on such an action plan, and after the summer, we have agreed for the Foreign Minister of Germany to come to Thessaloniki – I’m planning this – for us to sign this major agreement, the joint action plan, for the coming years, with Germany. We are in the course of developing our relations, but on an equal footing and with respect for both sides, i.e., Germany’s particular respect for us. I must say that Mr. Steinmeier is one of the exceptionally mindful and wise Foreign Ministers – one of the ones the European Union needs. We have very, very good chemistry and, I would say, a friendly relationship, and we are working not only for the improvement and systematization of the relations between our two states, but also for common outlooks on the major problems, like the refugee issue and, now, the future of Europe. It is no coincidence that I had a very long talk with Mr. Steinmeier when we were at the airport in Warsaw. I had just landed, and he briefed me on the meeting in Prague with the four Visegrad countries, who had meanwhile arrived in Warsaw. That is, we are in very regular contact and keep each other apprised of our views and actions. He is not the only one. I communicate in this way with many of my colleagues.
JOURNALIST: Obviously, Mr. Minister, but here you studied at the same university. Personal relations play a role.
N. KOTZIAS: Trust plays a major role, you’re right.
JOURNALIST: As I want to end on a positive note, when you return from China, we will have you here with us to tell us the results of that trip.
N. KOTZIAS: I’m going to China, and from there I go to the NATO Summit Meeting, and I will return and be in Athens for only an hour and a half, because I am going to Mongolia, to the Europe-Asia Summit Meeting, and from there to Brussels.
JOURNALIST: You’re on the move, and that’s the way it should be. May I ask, the rate of visas from Russia, as it has to do with tourism …
N. KOTZIAS: Everyone is being taken care of.
JOURNALIST: … is the rate satisfactory?
N. KOTZIAS: All applications are being processed now, and for some time now we have covered needs where we were lacking. Because we upgrading our software, we hired local staff, we sent ten administrative staff from other of our embassies abroad. And I also want to thank Minister Toskas for the fifteen well-trained Greek police officers. We have five times the personnel. Allow me to say something: Despite the grief of this day and in addition to our support for the friendly Turkish people, let us wish many happy returns to good friends, Peters and Pauls, who beautify many of our lives … I have many good associates at the University and here at the Ministry.
JOURNALIST: Thank you very much, Mr. Minister, for being with us. Have a good trip, I wish you every success.
June 29, 2016