Androulakis: Turkiye should not participate in European defence

"What relation could Turkiye, which threatens Greece with a casus belli even though it is a member-state of NATO and given the impossibility of a just solution to the Cyprus problem on the basis of UN resolutions, a Turkiye that is a destabilising factor in the wider region, have with European defence?" main opposition PASOK-Movement for Change leader Nikos Androulakis  said to REAL FM  on Monday. Androulakis clearly distanced himself from Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' proposal that Turkiye lift the casus belli in exchange for participation in European defence programmes, arguing that the threat of war may return. 
"I find it unthinkable that the prime minister should state that the condition is the lifting of the casus belli, which can be changed today but then come back. The securing of Turkiye's entry into European defence will not, however, be easy to prevent after a few years. Do they not understand that it is dangerous? Are we going to give them such a gift?" he asked.
On the laying of the cable for the Greece-Cyprus-Israel electricity interconnection, Androulakis stressed that if he was in government he would start the investment, having ensured that it will be fully completed, because, as he said, "apart from being a huge economic investment, it has a national - geopolitical character. It will cost us two billion. We have committed 650 million from European funds and the remaining 1,350 million will be paid by the Greek people. I am already reading that from the next six months Greek consumers will slowly pay a part of the cost of the investment in their tariffs. But it seems that Turkiye is preventing the laying of the cable.
"I believe that there should always be a channel of communication. Diplomatic relations require this," he said of the upcoming bilateral meetings between the Greek and Turkish governments and also highlighted the need to develop a strategy that will not be short-sighted.
Androulakis also stressed that ethnic cleansing is taking place in Gaza, as he said that "in a violent and criminal way they are expelling a people from their land" and criticised the government's absolute identification with Netanyahu.

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