Journalist: Good morning to Mr. Gregory Delavekouras, the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry. He’s going to tell us exactly what is happening today: when the C-130s are leaving, and when they will be getting back. Good morning.
Mr. Delavekouras: Good morning.
Journalist: So, three C-130s are departing this morning, Mr. Delavekouras?
Mr. Delavekouras: Exactly. About an hour from now, the C-130s will be departing, and we are going to be landing in Tripoli and Sabha – two aircraft in Tripoli and one in Sabha – where we will try to get the Greeks together so we can take off as soon as possible. Also, late yesterday evening we completed the embarkation of Greek citizens in Benghazi, and those two vessels are already sailing back to Greece.
Journalist: Will they be sailing into Piraeus, or to Crete?
Mr. Delavekouras: Crete.
Mr. Delavekouras: Crete, right? Is it true that we are helping a lot with the evacuation of third-country citizens – Chinese and European citizens?
Mr. Delavekouras: Certainly. There is broad coordination on the EU level. The evacuation operation coordinated on the EU level has already begun, and all of the member states are providing means, but our country – thanks to its fleet and geographical position – is essentially functioning as a center for persons leaving Libya. They are taken to Crete, and from there they continue on to their countries. We will assist the Chinese government with the transport of 13,000-15,000 Chinese citizens who are in Libya, and we are collaborating with many other countries to that end.
Journalist: I imagine that the situation in Libya – as you hear through diplomatic sources in Libya – is out of control, right? Is there guaranteed security for the C-130s landing at the airports – that there is no problem with their being able to land and take off afterwards?
Mr. Delavekouras: Our prerequisite was to receive flyover and landing permits, which was no easy task. But we managed in the end – otherwise these flights would not be taking place. Beyond that, this is a very unstable situation and we will have to see what we are up against when we get there, because you can’t tell whether all the information coming out of Libya right now is accurate or not.
Journalist: The information you have is that the turmoil is persisting in the major cities, like Benghazi and Tripoli. Do you have a picture as to a change in the situation, a return to calm, one or the other side prevailing …
Mr. Delavekouras: The situation is not good. It’s not good at all. There are regions where there is no government control. There are regions where gangs are carrying out assaults. We will see what we are up against, as I said. We will have to get the Greeks together at the Tripoli airport as fast as we can so that we can leave immediately. Sabha is essentially the meeting place for Greeks from four different construction sites where they were working, and they will gather there so that they can come back to Greece.
Journalist: So how many Greek’s can we expect back on the C-130s?
Mr. Delavekouras: We will see what that number is when we get there. Based on our communication so far, we believe that we will fully cover all the Greeks in Tripoli and the wider region I mentioned.
Journalist: So, will we need another operation like this, or will this be it?
Mr. Delavekouras: We will still have a few Greeks in Libya after this operation, and we are working on other scenarios for them. But all this is very difficult, as you can see, because the situation is changing constantly.
Journalist: Good luck, Mr. Delavekouras. Thank you very much.
Mr. Delavekouras: And I thank you. Have a good day.
Journalist: That was Gregory Delavekouras, the Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson. At 09:00, three C-130s will be departing for Libya to bring back as many Greeks as they can, and two ships that docked in Libya will be back in Greece today.
February 24, 2011