Greek PM takes a swipe at NATO over Greek soldier’s captivity

Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Wednesday took a swipe at allies during the NATO summit in Brussels, by describing the continued imprisonment of the two Greek soldiers in Turkey as a “wound” for the western alliance.

“It is a wound for all of NATO the unprecedented fact that two soldiers from a NATO country are being detained by another NATO country for more than four months because they passed a few meters into its territory by mistake and without any charges laid against them,” said Tsipras at the NATO summit in Brussels and called on Turkey to help the wound heal by returning the two soldiers.

Tsipras also took the opportunity to remind NATO allies of Turkey’s increased aggression saying that “it is a permanent wound for the alliance that fact that our neighbouring country insists on violating international law in our area and aims for the exemption of the Aegean Sea from operational planning at the cost of our collective abilities.”

The Greek Prime Minister then directed his comments at NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg:

“Mr Secretary General, today’s summit gives the opportunity to all of us to confirm our collective desire to prove our unity. Our role in the world will not be solely decided by our ability to protect the alliance from external threats or to manage challenges and crises beyond our borders. It will be decided by the relations of mutual respect that we ought to have between us as written in article 1 of the North Atlantic Treaty. This must be secured by NATO. And Greece will fight for this.”