Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias’ article for the 100th anniversary edition of “To Vima tis Kiriakis” newspaper (31.12.2022)

100 years of endurance in the course of time. Continuity in foreign policy (1922-2022)

Since the publication of the newspaper “To Vima”, then titled “Eleftheron Vima”, 100 years ago, Greece and the world have changed, while there have also been constant changes, positive or negative, in Greece’s relations with its neighbouring countries and particularly with Turkey.

The year 1922 affects Greece’s relations with Turkey in a dramatic way, due to the Asia Minor Catastrophe. For a century, the pendulum of Greek-Turkish relations has been swinging on a spectrum defined by rapprochements, crises, and ruptures. Following the Asia Minor Tragedy, Greece would face a new reality, as defined by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.

Greece would seek a new diplomatic path with the main concern now being the consolidation of territorial integrity and the defence of national independence.  The inter-war period is marked by the consolidation of a policy that bore the stamp of Venizelos and Kemal, who cooperated to establish a spirit of understanding as well as to strengthen bilateral ties. In the aftermath of World War II, the two countries would find themselves on different sides and starting points, due to the stance they chose to take during the war. Greece, with great sacrifices, fought against the Axis, while Turkey maintained an ambiguous, seemingly neutral stance. After World War II, Greece and Turkey, through their gradual integration into the Western coalition of powers and NATO membership (1952), seem once again to embark on a path of cooperation.

The course of the Cyprus issue, from 1955 until the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in July 1974 would overshadow this development. Furthermore, since the early 1970s, Turkey has raised a series of claims against Greece’s territorial sovereignty and sovereign rights, marking the widening of the Greek-Turkish confrontation beyond the Cyprus issue into the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean. For nearly half a century, we have been facing a steady escalation of Turkish revisionism, under the “Damocles sword” of the threat of war, and the Turkish side’s attempt to impose a new “model” of bilateral and regional relations, incompatible with any notion of good neighbourliness and respect for fundamental principles of International Law.

Nowadays, the Greek Government, free of stereotypes and rigidities, has chosen not to be drawn into a fruitless confrontation and the polarizing conditions that the novel Turkish narrative is shaping. At the same time, however, it makes it clear that it does not intend to renounce its national interests, as defined by International Law and the International Law of the Sea. Moreover, Greece has expressed its willingness to engage in a constructive dialogue with Turkey regarding the delimitation of the continental shelf and the EEZ in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, on the basis of the fundamental principles and rules, mentioned above.

The brief review of Greek foreign policy following 1922 would be incomplete if it was limited to the field of Greek-Turkish relations. For sure, these 100 years of endurance were not 100 years of solitude. The core conceptual thread of Greece’s foreign policy is adherence to the diplomatic grounds offered to our country by the international community, as well as by the West.

At the end of World War II, Greece was one of the 51 founding members of the UN. During this time, we have been actively participating in its activities, committed to the ideals and values of the UN Charter: the peaceful settlement of differences, respect for the rules of International Law and the Law of the Sea, respect for Human Rights. Thanks to Konstantinos Karamanlis’ insight, accession to the then-European Community in 1981, was particularly significant for strengthening our country’s diplomatic role and upgrading its defensive and deterrent capabilities.

Greece is currently a member-state with substantial participation at the core of EU developments and decisions. In recent years, our foreign policy has taken on a new dynamic, changing the model of its exercise, through a nexus of 300 bilateral agreements that we have signed from 2019 until today. These agreements include, the Strategic Partnership Agreement with France, the Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement with the United States, and the Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership with the United Arab Emirates. Furthermore, we have signed EEZ Delimitation Agreements with Italy and Egypt.

In addition, we have agreed with Albania to refer the issue of EEZ delimitation to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Greece, in three years, has grown, on the basis of International Law and the Law of the Sea. Moreover, we have managed to forge strong strategic ties of friendship and cooperation not only with traditional partners and allies but also with countries such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, and others.

We have strongly supported the need for our “neighbours” in the Balkan Peninsula to join the European Family and we have launched a rapprochement with the states of the African continent.

If 1922 can be considered a milestone for Greek-Turkish relations, 2022 is a landmark year for international relations, in the constricting framework of developments following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This new reality opens a new chapter in our country’s foreign policy. By demonstrating resilience and the ability to adapt to developments, Greece can secure its place among the international actors that will provide solutions and responses in an increasingly complicated international environment.

Solutions and responses which I hope that the newspaper “To Vima”, one of the most historic newspapers in our country, will continue to report with credibility in its next 100 years.