Greece’s Defence Minister Evangelos Apostolakis, stressed the readiness of the country’s armed forces during a media interview on Sunday.
"The Greek Armed Forces have the readiness to defend national interests when required” said Apostolakis adding that "the excellent results of the operational and training activities of our Armed Forces prove that we are in a position to defend our national laws."
His comments come after the joint medium-scale military aerial exercise "Iniochos 2019" that was underway on Friday, with the participation of the USA, Italy, Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
Apostolakis described the exercise as highly successful, stressing that "the exercise is quite advanced with rather difficult scenarios and it is taking place throughout the FIR of Greece. All participants have something to gain from it. With this exercise, cooperation between allies and the NATO states is progressing one step further."
"We are firmly committed to defending our national positions as defined by international law and international treaties, positions that precisely delineate our own red lines."
He added that the multidimensional defence policy safeguards our national integrity and defends our national interests while contributing to the strengthening of stability in the wider region. "We are in favour of the peaceful coexistence of states and the settlement of any disputes between them, in accordance with the provisions of the UN Charter," he underlined.
Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis is a former Greek naval officer who served as the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff in 2015–2019. He was appointed Minister for National Defence in January 2019.
