Geopolitally, Greece “is at the forefront of events, has a great diplomatic diplomatic capital, lies among three continents, and unfortunately lies very close to the two great wars that are afflicting the globe right now,” Greek Foreign Affairs Minister George Gerapetritis told Talk Radio 98.9 FM on Friday.
Referring to Greece’s election as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, Gerapetritis said that Greece would “proceed based on a single lever, the adherence to International Law.” He explained that “this great diplomatic capital that we have won, this international recognition, and mainly the opportunity we have to talk with all sides, we have achieved exactly because we were very consistent in exercising foreign policy on the basis of international law.”
Greece, he asserted, “would never engage in a policy of exchanges, a utilitarian policy – we are exercising a principled foreign policy.”
Regarding Greece’s election, Gerapetritis said that Greece will be sitting at the same policy-making table as the permanent members of the UN Security Council, and the number of votes it received (182 in a total of 188 countries voting) “shows the acceptance our country has at a global level.”
Turkiye, Middle East
In terms of relations with Turkiye, the purpose, he said, is to maintain the peacefulness in relations and to enter into greater depth in bilateral relations, especially regarding the only difference between the two countries that can be turned over to international jurisdiction: the delimitation of the continental shelf and the Exclusive Economic Zone.
The period of peacefulness “is proceeding step by step, based on a positive agenda, but also on avoiding provocations,” although he said that Greece recognizes that “in some cases, individually, there may be some differentiations.” As Gerapetritis added, “Turkiye voted for us as non-permanent member of the Security Council, and I personally received congratulations for this resounding election of ours. We understand that all these are important.”
The FM mentioned Greece would attend an extended peace conference in Amman that will take place under the auspices of the UN.
“We realize that our stance will be decisive. I want to remind that Greece overwhelmingly voted for the UN resolution for the extended participation of the Palestinian Authority at the General Assembly, and for the fulfilment of prerequisites to establish Palestine as a recognized state.”
The only possible solution is the recognition of the Palestinian state on the basis of UN Security Council resolutions: the borders before 1967, and with East Jerusalem as its capital, he reiterated. “It is very important that the recognition of the Palestinian state does not result from a sum of individual state recognitions, but that it comes as a central decision of the largest interntional organization, the UN,” Gerapetritis underlined.
