“The very definition of failure” is how Antonis Samaras describes recent developments in Libya. He accuses the government of steering the country towards “an erosion of our sovereign rights” through its handling of the electricity interconnector cable issue.
In an article in the newspaper Estia, the former prime minister says that “the ‘calm waters’ doctrine and the much-vaunted Treaty of Friendship between Greece and Turkey are the biggest mistake in Greek foreign policy since the Madrid and Helsinki agreements”.
He urges the government “not to play with fire any longer” and calls on the Foreign Ministry “to publish the agreement we are proposing as a country for the future of the Sinai Monastery”. He also stresses that “a change in our foreign policy, including the self-evident dismissal of Gerapetritis, is the only way forward”.
Antonis Samaras’s full article reads as follows:
“A country’s foreign policy is not the personal business of any minister or prime minister. It concerns the nation and its historical continuity.
Recent developments in Libya are the very definition of failure. Failure in geopolitical analysis. Failure to anticipate events. Failure in handling the situation. Failure in the end result. The nonsense the foreign minister — a self-proclaimed “friend of Greece” — is spouting left and right only deepens our concerns and misgivings.
Responsibility, of course, rests primarily with the prime minister, who believes in him and tolerates him. The ‘calm waters’ doctrine and the much-vaunted Treaty of Friendship between Greece and Turkey are the biggest mistake in Greek foreign policy since the Madrid and Helsinki agreements, which recognised Turkey’s vital interests in the region.
For a long time, government propaganda tried to call black white. It wanted us to believe that the so-called ‘calm waters’ and this treaty amounted to nothing more than … routine dialogue. And when two former prime ministers, myself included, objected that the country was sliding towards de facto acceptance of faits accomplis, and that this policy was whitewashing Ankara, we faced mockery and attacks. That does not bother me.
What does bother me is that they are turning a blind eye. And that some people’s partisan fanaticism prevents them from seeing the national reality — a reality also reflected in the major national issue of the Sinai Monastery. The clouds are gathering there too. The Foreign Ministry must publish the agreement we are proposing as a country for the future of the Monastery. I will leave it at that for now.
Now to the Turkish-Libyan memorandum.
On 24 August 2026, Mr Gerapetritis publicly assured us that Greece had ensured Libya would not ratify the baseless and illegal Turkish-Libyan memorandum.
What evidence did he have to speak with such certainty? What commitments had he secured? How did he assess Turkey’s outreach to eastern Libya? And what became of the supposedly guaranteed success he was presenting to the Greek people?
In fact, only yesterday, the same man said that it was not in Greece’s hands to prevent ratification of the Turkish-Libyan memorandum!
So either he was deceiving us in August, or he is publicly admitting that we are powerless to influence Libya…
And what of our good friend Haftar? Since the prime minister himself met him last June at Maximos Mansion, not only has the Turkish-Libyan memorandum been ratified, but we have also received thousands of illegal migrants in Crete! And yet the government has the political gall to turn around and blame us all for “hostility”. They even labelled my deep concern “deep intolerance” — such insensitivity…
The government proclaims that the memorandum remains illegal and that Libya’s decision does not alter its character. Obviously! Legally, that is entirely true. Turkey is acting as a pirate of international law over the Turkish-Libyan memorandum too. Everything it says is illegal and irrational.
But it was Mr Mitsotakis who designated this Turkey internationally as a “friend” — and did so in a treaty. Over these “calm waters” — which proved to be stormy seas — Mr Gerapetritis said, “Let them even call me a traitor”.
Now to the electricity interconnector cable. What is being said publicly is, to put it mildly, politically and legally absurd. Let me explain:
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the day before yesterday: “We have no objections to the cable, provided that Turkey is informed in writing about the work and given the relevant coordinates.”
He says this is because he does not want the “status quo” in the region to be disturbed. And by status quo, he presumably means the Turkish-Libyan memorandum… So what did the Greek foreign minister say in reply? In his exact words: “being informed about the survey and cable-laying could be possible, with the clear proviso that this would not constitute a licensing process”…
So when Mr Gerapetritis says he has no objection to Turkey being informed, he is in reality implicitly but clearly recognising Turkey’s jurisdiction. But Turkey does not authorise the cable! And no one is obliged to ask it for permission to lay one.
Notice is issued by the country with jurisdiction — Greece, in this case — through a NAVTEX. And that is enough. If we accept anything more, we are playing Turkey’s game. And on a maritime area that has already been declared a Greek EEZ (with Egypt)!
Do they ever think about what they say and what they are about to do? Does this not amount to an erosion of our sovereign rights? Who gave the government such a right? No one!
Mr Mitsotakis bears enormous responsibility to the nation. I have served as prime minister and know the weight of history. That is why I am telling the government not to play with fire any longer. A change in our foreign policy, including the self-evident dismissal of Gerapetritis, is the only way forward. Greece can achieve its national goals — but not like this.
A policy of kowtowing is unworthy of our country’s history, of the history of our political camp, and of the dignity of our people.”