From the floor of Parliament, Antonis Samaras leveled harsh criticism against the government and Kyriakos Mitsotakis personally, focusing his attack on national issues and wiretapping.
The former prime minister, referring to Greek-Turkish relations, emphasized that“the roadmap for the implementation of Turkey’s revisionist plans for our Aegean, Thrace, and the Eastern Mediterranean is no secret. For about five years now, Erdogan’s ‘Blue Homeland’ has not only been publicly proclaimed but also implemented in practice, with facts on the ground. I have warned that the policy of appeasement is a sham and leads to the emboldening of our neighbors.
With every step we take back, they advance their next claim. There have never been calm waters on their side. They only appeared calm in the media because we didn’t react. And so, we managed to whitewash them internationally.”
The situation now, as he said,“is even more dangerous. Turkey’s announcement of legislation for a completely arbitrary, illegal, and irrational expansion into the Aegean is no joke. Nor is it meant for domestic consumption. This is the critical moment they’ve been waiting for. The turning point in Greek-Turkish relations. If this happens, we’re headed for a national crisis with mathematical certainty. They want a heated incident to serve as a pretext for arbitration.
That is Turkey’s goal: the abolition of international treaties, the joint administration of our territories, and its expansion. Little by little. The government’s mistakes justify Turkey’s audacity. The “friendship” treaties, the kowtowing, the talk of “let them call me a sellout,” the cable to Kasos that was washed away by the sea—these are not politics. They are the epitome of a country in retreat.”
Samaras cited “Gerapetritis’s recent public admission that if Turkey carries out its announcements, an escalation of tensions cannot be ruled out; this is an admission that this policy has failed. Has the Foreign Minister now joined us, whom you used to call ‘professional worriers’? I warn you again: Greece must act in all international forums and with all its possible allies before Turkey enacts legislation. Don’t you finally understand that we must act before it’s too late?
We must, therefore, take the initiative, especially within the EU. We must exhaust our entire geopolitical leverage. We must make our resolve clear. We must even threaten to change our stance on a range of issues. And we must demand the protection of the European space, using all our diplomatic means. Now, not later.”
Old ad
The former prime minister commented on Mitsotakis’s recent remark when he asked rhetorically: “Who will pick up the phone at 3 a.m. at the Maximos Mansion?”
As Mr. Samaras said, “To be precise, he copied an old Hillary Clinton ad. Typical... He meant, in other words, that he is the only one capable of being Prime Minister of Greece; no one else compares to him... And I wonder: did his phone ring to tell him that some people were watching half the cabinet, the leadership of the Armed Forces, and the former prime minister of Greece—that is, me? And when they told him, at 3 a.m., what did he do?
Note that the government’s official narrative goes as follows: four private citizens, two of whom were foreigners, managed to deceive the entire state and, for some unspecified reason, were using the Predator to monitor specific targets.
The questions that follow are obvious. Why on earth would these four “private citizens” engage in wiretapping? And how did this happen? Where was their base of operations? And how were the targets selected? Is it possible that the wiretap footage is still in the wrong hands? Is there a government in the world that wouldn’t move “heaven and earth” to find out what happened? Especially for reasons of national security! That wouldn’t have its state agencies comb through every last detail? And yet, there is one: the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis! It turns out that the phone rang for nothing at 3 a.m. They simply interrupted his sleep... Unless, of course, there was no need for the phone to ring at all.”
And if things had stopped there, Antonis Samaras argued, “one could claim that this is yet another tragic failure of the government—of the wonderful, efficient, and always infallible administrative state. Mind you, we are not talking about the lawful surveillance operations of the EYP, which also raise some legitimate questions regarding certain individuals. But here we are talking about the illegalPredator software!
Shouldn’t the suspicions—following the court’s decision in the first instance—regarding the possible involvement of state agencies or parts thereof with the four “private individuals” be investigated by the state itself? Is there any basis to a defendant’s claim that his company, which distributes Predator, deals exclusively with government agencies and governments? If he happens to be right, shouldn’t this be investigated by a responsible state? Why hasn’t it happened? And why isn’t it happening, even now? And if the state—for some incomprehensible reason—does not wish to do so, shouldn’t Parliament investigate it, especially in light of the evidence from the trial?”
You are undermining the institutions
Regarding today’s“unprecedented”proceedings in Parliament, as he described them, the former prime minister said: “The government, which insists that the entire case concerns only four private individuals, is now invoking national security issues! Are you serious? In 2022, national security was not invoked. What has changed? And if it is suddenly a matter of national security, then why has no state investigation been conducted? Do you mean, after all, that the state is involved with these ‘private individuals’ ? Because, what else would any reasonable person think? Why don’t you want an investigation? What bothers you? Unless, gentlemen of the government, you are lying. Unless the truth is different. Unless the case is more murky. And you are covering something up.
But here we are talking about democracy and its quality. And you, Mitsotakis, cannot invoke the improvement of the quality of democracy, equality before the law, and so-called constitutional rights regarding same-sex marriage and the LGBTQI community, while remaining indifferent to the illegal surveillance and wiretapping of the country’s political, military, institutional, and economic systems of the country! For God’s sake! How much longer will you debase the institutions—and even this desolate New Democracy? What are you afraid of, Mitsotakis?”
Samaras emphasized that he is “the first expelled former prime minister and party president. The second is—figuratively speaking, as he himself said— Kostas Karamanlis. Mitsotakis, of course, expelled both of us—literally—the day before yesterday at the Congress, even from the videos chronicling the party’s history. And he was quite right to do so...
Because the history of New Democracy, from its founding, is a democratic and luminous journey. Konstantinos Karamanlis, whom I served from the very beginning, established democracy in modern Greece, but also within the party. With stability, political consensus, a grassroots base, a European orientation, a multidimensional foreign policy, and the nation as its compass. In other words, nothing like Mitsotakis’s current, mutated party.
A political entity with a “river-like ideology” of “whatever works.” A hodgepodge that tests the democratic resilience of the political system, using methods unbecoming of a European party. Today will go down as yet another link in the chain of opacity in Mitsotakis’s long collection.”
And Samaras continued in sharp tones:
“At ‘three in the morning,’ the phone rang at the Maximos Mansion regarding OPEKEPE, the ‘frappe,’ and the ‘butcher.’ About Tempi, where three years later no one knows what happened. About inflation, which is running rampant. About the direct contracts, which are shocking. About Kasos, where the cable is still missing. About security, which has sounded the alarm. About demographics, our first national threat. About the deserted countryside. About the youth, who have been left without a compass. About the intense stench that has engulfed Athens for three days and no one knows anything...
"Three in the morning" the phone rings daily about Erdogan’s "Blue Homeland." Rama’s Albania. Skopje, now out of control. The Ukrainian drone in Lefkada... Mitsotakis’s problem isn’t the phone. It’s that no one is picking it up… And as the founder of the Party, Konstantinos Karamanlis, would tell you, “Greece has turned into a vast madhouse.” You bear full responsibility. Greece is not your property. You are not a Governor or a Ruler. You are the Prime Minister. And you owe it—even now—to respect the institutional functioning and the dignity of this country. Because Greece has existed, exists, and will continue to exist even after you, Mitsotakis.