Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said in an interview with SKAI TV, referring to the international reaction against the Russian invasion, that revisionism at the expense of the treaties and the territorial integrity of states has suffered a severe blow.
"Democracies in their totality are opposed to revisionism. And with a very clear position and clear speech, irrespective of sacrifices and beyond blackmail," Dendias said.
Λόγω της ρωσικής εισβολής στην Ουκρανία, οι Δημοκρατίες βρίσκονται απέναντι στον αναθεωρητισμό, με καθαρή θέση & καθαρό λόγο, ανεξαρτήτως θυσιών & εκβιασμών. Αυτό είναι πολύ σημαντικό για την Ελλάδα ως κεκτημένο & λειτουργεί σαν μια οιονεί ασπίδα για τα συμφέροντα μας. #skai pic.twitter.com/rKWvjMjZdz
— Nikos Dendias (@NikosDendias) April 1, 2022
He also expressed the belief that "this is something that is very important for Greece as an [established position] and that is why, beyond our principles, it is also something that we wholeheartedly support."
It works, Dendias underlined, "as something of a shield for our own interests, for our own future and for the step of creating a Europe much more cohesive than before."
Greece's top diplomat wondered why Russia made this particular choice when it had other choices and noted that it was so tragically unacceptable in the 21st century, so beyond any admissible logic, that one could only condemn on principle from the outset, draw a broad red line and say this cannot be tolerated.
"Western democracies have done that and they have done well," he said.
At the same time, Dendias noted that the Turkish revisionist narrative as a whole presentation of position, suffered a heavy blow and he estimated that Turkey would be forced by the international climate to stop its verbal revisionism in practice and cancel any real revisionism in the future.
The international community does not intervene, the foreign minister said clearly.
"The model of the other approach has collapsed. That is, a President Putin who can use force of arms to impose his will wherever he wants. This collapsed. Will the Turkish system adequately assimilate this? I do not know. But I hope this will happen," added.
In fact, as Dendias pointed out, the fact that Turkey remains with an occupying army on Cyprus was the most blatant violation of international law in Europe before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Regarding the attitude of Greece, he made it clear that the country's policy was not determined by others but self-determined, because this was the will of society and something that served the country and its interests.
"Greece has chosen a European future. The worst thing it could have done was to have differentiated itself from the EU, to have broken the consensus. Then it would really be in the corner. That would have shattered the very image of political principles it had in recent years. This would be a disaster for Greece," he said.
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