Ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to tell you that it is a great honor for me to stand before you today, and I would like to warmly thank both the Hellenic National Defence College and the “Eleftherios K. Venizelos” National Research Foundation for inviting me to share some thoughts of mine at this event regarding the strategic choices of Eleftherios Venizelos in foreign policy.
I will not go into detail because, despite the kindness of the Minister of National Defence, I think that it is far more important that you listen to the speakers and become acquainted with the strategic thinking and choices of an important man, the most important politician in our recent history, who had the great quality not to do the obvious and not to be trapped even in his own choices.
Allow me to say that this year, 2022, which marks a hundred years since the Asia Minor Catastrophe of 1922, is perhaps the best time to study the strategic thinking of the great politician Eleftherios Venizelos.
Why am I saying this? Because Eleftherios Venizelos, in the first place, was the politician of the implementation of the Great Idea. It is this that he was nurtured with, and this that he implemented as the main choice of his policy. What is remarkable, however, in addition to the achievement, to a large extent, of national integration, is his readiness for a shift in his strategic choices when the conditions called for a different strategy.
I am referring mainly to his choices in foreign policy during one of the less known premiership terms of his, the period from 1928 to 1932.
It is the time when the same politician of the Great Idea prioritized the reconstruction of Greece, having as his main doctrine the organizing of its internal affairs, its stability and economic prosperity. He even changed the then doctrine of the Armed Forces. He came into conflict with his close friend and man of his own choice, General Mazarakis-Ainian. He even sacrificed the prospect of integrating the Dodecanese and Cyprus in the negotiations with Italy and the United Kingdom, so as to establish relations with these countries that would allow him to achieve his main strategic goal, the reconstruction of Greece.
Eleftherios Venizelos, therefore, I think, emerges as an outstanding figure in this regard. He was a politician who could see clearly, who did not get trapped even in his own strategic choices, but adjusted goals and possibilities while also disregarding the political costs for him.
Because his choice not to raise the issue of the Dodecanese in the relations with Italy was politically painful for Eleftherios Venizelos. But he did not hesitate at all. He believed that Greece had to be in close understanding with Italy in order to achieve its main goals.
He was also outstanding in his goal-oriented determination. He was not distracted by setting multiple goals. As it was mentioned previously, his insight into the issues of the Armed Forces is well known. Not only did he reorganize them before the victorious Balkan Wars, but let me tell you just another example that was mentioned: he established a Ministry of Air Force, being aware that this new corps of the Armed Forces would play a leading role in the future.
I think that there is no other politician in Europe, if not in the world, presenting the multiple qualities of Eleftherios Venizelos.
There is a wide list of books, I think many of them can be found on the shelves of bookstores due to the time period we are going through. There are also repositories, which I visited a few days ago, during one of my visits to the British capital.
By the way, I tend to believe, following his example, that Greece, regardless of Brexit, should always have close relations with the United Kingdom, which is why I have visited it three times in the last twelve months.
Another former Ambassador [to Greece], Llewellyn-Smith, gave me his book on the Ionian tragedy, as there is also Professor Richter’s book on the period 1919-1922. But let me mention one more book about Venizelos’s foreign policy in the period 1928-1932, which is not very well known because its author did not seek to make it known. It is the doctoral dissertation of the former Prime Minister, Costas Karamanlis at the Fletcher School, Tufts University. It is a very interesting book, because it also refers to the economic foreign policy of Eleftherios Venizelos, something that is of great importance even today.
Allow me to conclude by expressing my envy for those who have the opportunity to attend the whole event and my regret, dear Minister, that I will not be able to attend due to my obligations. Let me conclude with a rather unknown quote about Greece from Winston Churchill, an acquaintance of Eleftherios Venizelos, as was Lloyd George who was a close friend of his at the time. He says – allow me the free translation because I have it in English in my mind: “Greece fell asleep”- by saying “fell asleep” Churchill, who knew us well meant the flaws of our race- “Greece fell asleep and made the empire of its dreams come true but lost it as soon as it woke up “, that is, as soon as our national flaws got the better of us again.
Thank you.