Athens
, 5 February 2009
Mr. G. Koumoutsakos: Good morning.
Foreign Minister Ms. Dora Bakoyannis will depart for Munich tomorrow, Friday, to participate in the two-day proceedings of the 45th Munich Security Conference.
On the afternoon of Saturday, 7 February, Ms. Bakoyannis will chair the second panel of the Conference plenary on “Nato, Russia, Oil, Gas and the Middle East: The Future of European Security”. Participants in this panel will include UK Foreign Secretary Mr. Miliband, Ukrainian Prime Minister Ms. Tymoshenko, U.S. Senator Mr. McCain and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Ivanov.
This coming Monday, 9 February, Ms. Bakoyannis will visit Tirana, continuing her tour of the Western Balkans as the Chairperson of the OSCE. She will meet with Albanian President Mr. Topi, Prime Minister Ms. Berisha and Foreign Minister Mr. Basha. She will also have the opportunity to meet with the Speaker of the Albanian Parliament, Ms. Topalli, and representatives of political parties. The main subject of the Minister’s talks will be progress in the programmes the OSCE is implementing in Albania in cooperation with the Albanian government, as well as judicial reform, property registration and protection of property rights, police cooperation, good governance and cross-border cooperation.
On Thursday, 12 February, Ms. Bakoyannis will travel to Tbilisi, Georgia, on her first visit to the region as Chairperson of the OSCE. Meetings are being scheduled with state and political leadership at the highest level, and the Minister will also visit the headquarters of the OSCE Mission to Georgia. In Tbilisi, Ms. Bakoyannis will be briefed on current developments in the region and will have the opportunity to present the proposals of the Greek Chairmanship for ensuring the continued presence of the OSCE in the region. I remind you that the Greek OSCE Chairmanship contributed decisively to the speedy settlement of the serious humanitarian issue of provision of natural gas to South Ossetia; provision that had been halted in August 2008.
On Monday, 9 February, at 14:00, Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Yannis Valinakis will meet at the Foreign Ministry with the Polish Undersecretary of State of the Office of the Committee for European Integration, Mr. Piotr Serafin.
Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Kassimis will receive the new Ambassadors to Athens of the United Arab Emirates and Morocco at 11:00 and 11:30, respectively, on Friday, 6 February – tomorrow.
On Sunday, 8 February, Mr. Kassimis will participate in the New Year’s celebration for children that is being organized by the Association of Pontian Societies of Southern Greece and the Islands, in cooperation with the Secretariat for Greeks Abroad.
Finally, on Monday, 9 February, he will accompany Foreign Minister Bakoyannis on her visit to Tirana.
At 12:00 today, at the Foreign Ministry, Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Miltiadis Varvitsiotis will receive the Azerbaijani Ambassador to Athens; at 13:00 he will receive the Polish Ambassador; and at 14:00 he will receive the German Ambassador.
Next Friday, 13 February, Mr. Varvitsiotis will participate in the proceedings of the International Conference on Strategic Development in the Ionian and Adriatic. This Conference is being organized by the Foreign Ministry within the Framework of the Greek Chairmanship of the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative and will take place in Corfu, from 13 to 15 February.
The Adriatic-Ionian Initiative was set up in 2000, with the participation of Greece, Italy, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia, aimed at the collaboration of the participating states in the fields of economy, tourism, transport, sustainable development, environmental protection, education, culture and combating organized crime. A priority of the Greek Chairmanship – a one-year chairmanship from 1 July 2008 – is to promote regional tourism in the participating countries.
Ministers from the participating countries will attend the conference, along with representatives of chambers of commerce, local authority agencies, universities, and business delegates from the fields of tourism, banking, transport and telecommunications, and, finally, professional associations of hoteliers and travel agents.
The aim the Conference is an exchange of ideas on a broader regional synergy, the coordination of social partner actions and the setting of future goals within the framework of the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative.
Your questions, please.
Mr. Meletis: When will the Minister be going to Ossetia to see the OSCE offices there?
Mr. G. Koumoutsakos: Nothing has been scheduled that I can announce at this time.
Mr. Meletis: The Foreign Minister has given two interviews on Greek-Turkish relations recently. In one, on NET TV, she mentions that there is no dispute regarding Agathonisi and that we shouldn’t create such an issue ourselves. And the second, yesterday, with the Associated Press, where she states that we are examining and analyzing and seeking the cause for this increase in Turkish violations in the Aegean.
I wanted to ask whether this is the official stance of the Foreign Ministry: that, first, Agathonisi is not disputed, and second that we are looking for the reasons for Turkish provocation in the Aegean.
Mr. G. Koumoutsakos: Whatever the Foreign Minister says is clearly the position of the Foreign Ministry. That does not mean that what the Minister says should be misinterpreted – and there are sometimes attempts to misinterpret what she says.
Mr. Meletis: Excuse me, efforts made by whom, Mr. Spokesman? I hope you don’t mean me.
Mr. G. Koumoutsakos: I expressed myself very clearly. I wasn’t talking about you – I said “there are sometimes attempts”.
Mr. Meletis: So do you have some specific allegation to make regarding a misinterpretation?
Mr. G. Koumoutsakos: I am making no allegation. Sometimes there are misunderstandings of official statements. This isn’t the first time. I know that this happens – it isn’t the rule, but it happens in an era when so much information flows so fast. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t point it out.
So I repeat: Whatever the Foreign Minister says and is recorded is clearly the position of the Foreign Ministry. Beyond that, misapprehensions of the statements or misinterpretations concern the authors of the misinterpretations.
The positions of the Foreign Ministry on the issue of Turkish policy has been set out in the clearest and most official manner. And here I will refer you to the discussion that took place recently at the Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Foreign Affairs, in the Foreign Minister’s speech and in her answers to the questions that were asked.
And as for the statement that these things are being examined and studied, it is obvious that it is the Foreign Ministry’s duty to examine and study the practices that are created and exist within a framework of the well known Turkish policy, which is a policy of assertion and claims it has exhibited for 35 years now – a period during which there has been increased tension, reduced tension, and periods of calm. But the characteristics remain basically unchanged – characteristics of a policy of assertion and claims beyond the provisions of international law.
Mr. Meletis: Mr. Spokesman, sorry, but I am asking about Agathonisi because we have been looking at this issue for a few months, and more intensively of late. If it is the assessment of the Foreign Ministry and the position of the Foreign Ministry that there is no dispute from Turkey, this changes matters and the manner in which the specific incidents are confronted and the more general handling of Greek-Turkish issues. That is why I ask – and I come back to my question: According to the Foreign Ministry, is there Turkish dispute over Agathonisi and Farmakonisi?
Mr. G. Koumoutsakos: But I answered you indirectly before when I talked about consistent characteristics of Turkish policy…
Mr. Meletis: I’m sorry to interrupt, I’m asking something very specific if you could please answer that. With regard to Turkey's claims on Agathonissi and Farmakonissi. You could include your answer in the written version later on, I don’t insist on being given an answer now, but my question does not have to do with Turkey’s dispute and its policy of assertion, but whether there are Turkish disputes over Agathonissi and Farmakonissi.
Mr. G. Koumoutsakos: I think that my previous answer covers your question; in the sense that I referred to the underlying characteristics of Turkey’s policy for the past 35 years.
The qualitative characteristics of Turkey’s policy are well known. We know what its policy is all about, for instance, with regard to airspace. We know the reasoning that has been put forward - in practice as well – i.e., the reasoning of grey areas which is unacceptable to us; we all know Turkey’s arbitrary interpretation of international treaties and conventions, as well as international areas of jurisdiction, and here I’m referring specifically to the Athens Flight Information Region (FIR).
All these unfortunately remain unchanged. I think that answers your question.
Ms. Melisova: There is a report today referring to a plan for European skies and that it tends to cut into national rights or might cut into national rights.
Mr. G. Koumoutsakos: According to the information given to the Foreign Ministry by competent officials and experts who have been following these processes, no amendment has been introduced in any articles that could have a negative impact on our national interests or on the country's competences in any way.
Under no circumstances, is there a violation of Greece’s sovereign rights or competences with regard to its airspace, be it our national airspace or the Athens FIR.
Ms. Voudouri: Will the Minister have bilateral contacts at the Munich Conference?
Mr. G. Koumoutsakos: Three meetings have been scheduled. Other meetings might be held on the sidelines of this two-day conference. The Foreign Minister will meet with her Romanian and Bulgarian counterparts and she will also have a meeting with Mr. Holbrooke.
Mr. Kakarnias: Is there a comment on the part of the Foreign Ministry on the report published by the State Department the day before yesterday?
Mr. G. Koumoutsakos: No, what is written in the report does not concern issues that fall under the Foreign Ministry’s competences. As a general remark – I'm expecting there will be another question as a follow-up on that – I would like to stress that this updated report does not have the slightest impact on Greek-U.S. relations.
Mr. Kapoutsis: You said earlier that Turkey is following a policy of claims in the Aegean. You obviously meant disputing the sovereignty and legal status there. That’s what you obviously mean. How is the Foreign Ministry planning to address this policy of claims? By what means?
Mr. G. Koumoutsakos: I referred to the long-standing character of this policy. Every Greek government over the past 35 years has been faced with this policy.
And the basic elements of the way in which they addressed it remain the same. There might be some deviations as to individual tactical manoeuvres, but the basic characteristics of Greece’s policy are well-known. I could give you an enumeration of certain salient examples right now.
First of all, firm and unswerving support for the provisions of international law, for the provisions of international treaties, for the provisions of international rules, for international agreements.
Secondly, a response to Turkish violations. A response at an operational and diplomatic-political level.
Greece’s foreign policy has always had a two-fold objective with regard to Greek-Turkish relations. On the one hand, a direct and efficient response to any dispute of international law and international rules governing the status in the Aegean and beyond – I mean not just the Aegean but also all other issues that are of concern to bilateral relations – as well as consistent and continuous efforts to create the necessary conditions and prospects for a period of calm, a period of improvement, ultimately aiming at the full normalization of Greek-Turkish relations.
This is a strategic objective – and I would dare say it is one supported across the party spectrum – because all the governments that have responsibly handled these matters for the past 35 years had the same objective, and this is still Greece’s objective.
Speaking of a full normalization, it goes without saying that an inviolable condition for the full normalization of Greek-Turkish relations is, by definition, resolving the Cyprus issue and reuniting the island.
Mr. Meletis: In which capacity will Ms. Bakoyannis meet with Mr. Holbrooke, and vice versa? Because I think he is also competent for Kashmir and Pakistan.
Mr. G. Koumoutsakos: He will be present at the Munich conference. There was a request for a meeting and a meeting will be held.
Mr. Meletis: Who requested the meeting?
Mr. G. Koumoutsakos: Mr. Holbrooke.
Mr. Athanassopoulos: Mr. Holbrooke is competent for several issues, including Afghanistan. Does that have to do with the request for this meeting because it is well-known that NATO and the United States have been asking their allies for help...
Mr. G. Koumoutsakos: There is the OSCE – our Chairmanship there. In any event, the topics to be discussed at this meeting will be made public following the end of the meeting.
Mr. Pollatos: I would like to come back to the State Department’s updated report on Greece. You said that the content of the report does not concern issues that fall under the Foreign Ministry’s competences. Doesn’t the country's image abroad fall under the Foreign Ministry’s competences?
Mr. G. Koumoutsakos: The part that has to do with the country’s image abroad, with its foreign policy, its international conduct – this, of course, concerns the Foreign Ministry.
You know very well what the structure of Greek administration is. Beyond that, the overall promotion of the country’s image abroad is not the exclusive competence of the Foreign Ministry.
Ms. Kourbela: What is the OSCE programme for the coming days?
Mr. G. Koumoutsakos: I said that earlier in my introduction. There is going to be a visit to Albania next Monday and to Tbilisi, Georgia in the coming days.
Thank you.