Galery

1

Foreign Policy magazine conducted a poll on how analysts, experts and politicians think NATO should change. Asked "If you had to kick one country out of NATO, which one would it be?" one third of respondents replied Greece. They stated as an argument the pending issue of the name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the controversial issues with Turkey. How would you comment on that?

I am not familiar with that particular poll, but the opinion of experts is not the opinion of states and nations. On the name issue, we believe that the time has come to find a name acceptable to both sides, which will determine the geographical location of our neighbour. Regarding Turkey, it is known that historically, we have had clashes at times, but we support the European perspective of Turkey's accession to the European Union. The open issues such as the sea shelf, the militarization of the Aegean islands, the illegal immigration through the border with Evros should be resolved through a dialogue with the European institutions. I do not understand why the economic crisis in a country should have such a severe impact on our participation in international organizations such as NATO. I think that the particular poll of that particular magazine is at the least ineffective.