The Greek people expect the prime minister to defend the Greek positions on critical international and national issues with clarity and determination, stressed PASOK MP Michalis Katrinis, speaking in the plenary session of Parliament, ahead of Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ speech at the UN General Assembly.
He criticized the prime minister for not having requested at an EU Summit the tangible solidarity of the partners and the imposition of economic sanctions on Turkey for its illegal actions and the violation of the sovereign rights of Greece and Cyprus, while at the NATO Summit in Ankara he chose to speak about the Turkish stance outside the hall, to the media.
He called on him to defend international law and peace at the UN, without controversial statements that justify revisionism. He asked him to raise the Turkish threat of war and the challenges to Greek sovereign rights and to make clear that Greece will exercise its lawful rights in the immediate next period, without Turkey’s permission.
He also asked for the Cyprus issue to be highlighted at the UN as an international issue of invasion and occupation, with the resumption of talks based on UN decisions, in coordination with the Republic of Cyprus, withdrawal of the occupation troops and abolition of guarantees and intervention rights.
As for the Greek-Turkish dialogue, he underlined that it concerns the delimitation of the EEZ and the continental shelf, with Greek sovereignty and the demilitarization of the islands out of the discussion. He requested that the political leaders and Parliament be informed about the proposals and understandings with Turkey and any possible demands by it regarding the installation of weapons systems on the islands. “No prime minister has a blank check for decisions that bind the country’s future,” he stressed.
In a separate intervention, he described the collaboration of Kasidiaris with the “Alliance of Greeks,” with which three sitting MPs are connected, as a serious political and institutional issue. Regarding the participation of the formation in the elections, he made clear: “This will not be decided by Kasidiaris, but by Justice.”
“Democracy is not afraid. Democracy, however, remembers. It has institutional and historical memory,” he stressed and referred to fascism and Nazism, to the dictatorship and to the national betrayal of Cyprus. He recalled the murder of Pavlos Fyssas, the neo-Nazi assault battalions and the conviction of the leadership of Golden Dawn for directing a criminal organization.
He underlined that confronting the far right requires convincing answers to the real problems of citizens, to economic insecurity, high prices and the loss of jobs. He charged the Mitsotakis government with having forgotten this responsibility, both with its policies in everyday life and with its stance toward institutions.