Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis’ remarks on SKAI TV’s morning show “SIMERA” with journalists Dimitris Oikonomou and Maria Anastasopoulou (Athens, 12.01.2022)

Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis talked about the latest developments in Greek-Turkish relations and the persistent provocative statements by Turkish officials, in an interview this morning on SKAI TV’s show “Simera” with journalists Dimitris Oikonomou and Maria Anastasopoulou.

In particular, Mr. Varvitsiotis pointed out that the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis has proceeded with a courageous armament program and this is a cause of concern for Turkey. “We are prepared at operational and determined at the political level to respond to any Turkish provocation on the ground” the Alternate Minister said, reminding that in the past, in both cases of provocative actions on the ground, in Evros and the Southeastern Mediterranean, Greece responded appropriately. He even attributed the aggressive statements of Turkish officials to reasons concerning public opinion in Turkey. Mr. Varvitsiotis made it clear, however, that Greece’s goal is to keep our differences within diplomatic context -even when employing strident rhetoric- rather than end up in an armed conflict.