Greece and NATO: view from the next generation
How do you see NATO's past?
If we talk about the past,
definitely NATO played a key role...
It was the factor of stabilisation,
back in that time.
In a perspective of the clash between the two superpowers,
the United States of America and their Allies,
and the Soviet-Union and the Warsaw Pact,
it served the purpose of the time.
I mean, the joint membership of Greece and Turkey in NATO.
It prevented Soviet projection of power inside the Mediterranean,
it prevented the Soviet fleet from coming down to the Mediterranean.
So, in that case it helped.
It helped the West, it helped the NATO Alliance.
How do you see NATO today?
To me, as well as to most Greeks,
NATO is the basic security pillar on which my country’s security
and defence policy is based upon.
There have been some setbacks and problems
in this journey through the decades, but generally,
and for the EU and especially for Greece,
I think nobody doubts that it is and it will be the basic security pillar
of our defence policy.
I find NATO to be the most important
and the most efficient military organisation that there is today.
By efficient, I don’t mean that it is always efficient,
but it is more efficient than other military organisations
or other militaries, either from states or from other organisations.
Well, I think that NATO plays a key role.
I mean, it started as a defence organisation.
Now it does many things in many domains.
That’s very important, like environment or cyber security, etc.
What role has NATO played in Greece and Turkey’s relationship?
I think that it didn’t do what it had to do
to preventing crises
and to solving conflicts between Greece and Turkey.
I think it has made both countries feel more secure towards each other
because they both belong in NATO. On the other hand,
yes, there have been problems between Greece and Turkey.
The most important being the invasion of Cyprus by Turkey.
NATO didn’t help Greece.
I don’t know if it could help Greece at that point
because both countries are members of NATO.
And there are no provisions about what happens
when two allied countries have a conflict.
How do you see NATO’s future?
It plays a very important role in international politics.
I think there is room for improvement.
So I would like to get to know NATO better from the inside
and also reflect on what could be improved in NATO, in its operations,
in its post-conflict peace-building, things like that.
But the fact is that it makes us feel more secure and I think…
We don’t need to worry as much as we would if we were alone.