Only weeks after Azerbaijani troops raped, tortured, dismembered and murdered female Armenian prisoners of war, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev in Sofia before the opening ceremony of the Greece-Bulgaria IGB interconnector pipeline.
The two leaders provided a comprehensive overview of bilateral relations and analysed the prospects for further development of economic and trade cooperation, with an emphasis on the energy sector.
Mitsotakis underlined the key role that Greece can play in the energy security and supply of the Balkans and Europe due to its position, both with the infrastructures in Revythoussa and Alexandroupolis, and with the joint ventures in which it participates as a bridge with Africa, such as the Greece-Egypt electrical interconnection.
In fact, it is recalled that the Greek Prime Minister described the IGB natural gas pipeline, which connects the national natural gas transmission system of Greece with the Bulgarian network and will be able to transport 3 billion cubic metres of gas per year, as a "pipeline of values".
“IGB is an energy pipeline. At the same time, it is a 'pipeline of values' that will transfer the message of national security, Balkan solidarity, interstate cooperation and prosperity of peoples," Mitsotakis said in July. "These messages gain particular importance in this disturbed world of ours. In a region where, unfortunately, there still exists an exception of unhistorical aggressiveness, to which, however, responds both global reality and our national preparedness”.
This is of course a bizarre claim for Mitsotakis to make since the IGB pipeline is delivering Azerbaijani energy, the country which in 2020 conducted an ethnic cleansing of indigenous Armenians from their ancestral lands in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Even more recently, Azerbaijani forces launched large-scale attacks at several sections of the long border on the night from September 12-13, seizing some of the Armenian army posts there. Details of Azerbaijani atrocities during their attack on Armenia were detailed by Army Chief of Staff Edward Asryan.
“They committed atrocities in our combat positions against our servicemen, including women soldiers,” Asryan said. “I cannot find words to describe how they dismembered a female soldier, cut off her legs, fingers and stripped her naked. This is unheard of cruelty.”
A graphic video depicting the attack that Asryan described has been circulating on social media, Asbarez reported, who reviewed the video but did not publish it due to its graphic nature.
The soldier was identified as Anush Apetyan, 36, a mother of three children was reportedly captured alive in Jermuk and then raped, tortured and dismembered by Azerbaijani soldiers. They put her severed fingers in her mouth and gouged out her eye.
Yet, with only these horrific events occurring weeks earlier, Mitsotakis had no qualms in joyfully smiling and shaking the hands of the dictator responsible for war crimes.
Although the Mitsotakis government is positioning Greece has a hub for pipeline and energy connectiveness, it also comes at the risk of diminishing Greece's security.
Aliyev clearly stated during the ceremony of handing over the Greek Ambassador’s credentials in 2020 that Azerbaijan supports Turkey in the East Mediterranean against Greece.
“I can tell you, and it is no secret, that Turkey is not only our friend and partner, but also a brotherly country for us. Without any hesitation whatsoever, we support Turkey and will support it under any circumstances. We support them [Turkey] in all issues, including the issue in the Eastern Mediterranean," the dictator said.
Only in May, the Turkish exercise EFES 2022 was carried out with the participation of Azeri special forces and had a special focus on storming and invading Greek islands.
If a war between Greece and Turkey was to occur, undoubtedly Azerbaijan will have a heavy participation, and it cannot be discounted that the flow of energy from the Caucasian country to Greece would be turned off. By deepening ties with Azerbaijan, Mitsotakis is putting Greece in a position of greater vulnerability and reliance, just as happened to Germany with Russian energy, and we now see the economic catastrophe unfolding across Europe.
Mitsotakis always justified the cutting of Greece's relations with Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine, which is apparently defending democracy and liberalism. However, this has been proven beyond doubt to be nothing but a farce. Rather, he is utilising buzzwords to justify why he is following orders from higher powers.
It is inconceivable to understand how Azerbaijan defends democracy, liberalism, human rights and all these other terms that are repeated like an endless mantra. Rather, all the Greek Prime Minister has done is shown that Armenian blood has no value, and adds insult to value by describing the Greece-Bulgaria IGB interconnector pipeline as a "pipeline of values".
READ MORE: The defence of Greece begins in Armenia.