Greek government expresses “horror” over the deaths in the Gaza strip, calls for de-escalation

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Government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos on Tuesday opened his briefing to the press by expressing his horror over the “the dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries of demonstrators in the Gaza Strip caused by the Israeli army during the demonstrations against the USA’s decision to transfer their Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“It is a disproportionate reaction from Israel that should be addressed with unity and determination by the whole of the international community,” according to the representative of the Greek government, who underlined that the “unilateral actions do not assist in the solution of the differences between Israel and Palestine, which should be addressed in the context of UN’s resolutions”.

Tzanakopoulos asked the EU, the Arab League and the UN “to immediately assume effective initiatives for the de-escalation of tension and the restoration of international legality”.

“FYROM must change its constitution”

Government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos on Tuesday stressed that Athens will not back down in the negotiations on the name of FYROM and that the Greek government “continues to defend with stability and determination the national line, which is a compound name erga omnes, something that by definition requires a revision of the neighbouring country’s Constitution.”

“We seek the best possible consensus, we listen to all views and proposals, however, the Greek government decides on its stance by itself,” he said during the daily press briefing.
While progress has been made, Tzanakopoulos added, the two sides are still far from concluding the negotiations and reaching an agreement. Consequently, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ meeting with FYROM Prime Minister Zoran Zaev will be extremely useful and important but cannot be considered certain to result in an agreement, while bridging the distance that currently separates the two sides may well necessitate another round of talks, said Tzanakopoulos.

AMNA