PM Mitsotakis speaking at the opening of an event dedicated to Asia Minor at the Benaki Museum. PM PRESS OFFICE/DIMITRIS PAPAMITSOS
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis sent a clear message to Turkey that the Treaty of Lausanne will not be revised and that “the one century of the validity of the Treaty will be succeeded by many more.”
Mitsotakis was speaking at the opening of an event dedicated to Asia Minor at the Benaki Museum late on Wednesday.
The prime minister praised the contribution of the ethnic Greek refugees from Asia Minor and Pontus to the rise of Greece at that time, he underlined that every great setback can be followed by a greater national success, and that, today, the “Great Idea” is not associated with geographical gains but with building “the strong and self-sufficient homeland of our future. The one that does not forget because, precisely, it wants to move forward.”
The prime minister referred to the efforts of the Greek state and Eleftherios Venizelos, who managed to successfully deal with the problem of the resettlement of millions of refugees, and referring to the Lausanne Treaty and Turkey’s efforts to revise it, he stressed:
“Since then, the Treaty of Lausanne has governed our coexistence with our neighbours. And this, despite the fact that Turkey has violated it by uprooting the Greek element of Constantinople [Istanbul], Imbros and Tenedos. But it is still undermining its clear regulations, challenging our sovereign rights. The other side of the Aegean should realise, however, that the nearly one century of validity of this Treaty will be succeeded by many more. This is what History and Geography, legitimacy and international stability require. Greece guarantees and will guarantee its observance, with the shield of diplomacy and its alliances, but also with the deterrent spear of the Armed Forces. Above all, however, with its uninterrupted march towards progress. Because the real confrontation each country faces is with its past and its future.”
Source: ANA – MPA
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