Defence Minister Evangelos Venizelos, addressing the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations on Thursday, referred to the situation in the Middle East as
a result of recent developments in Egypt, Greek-Turkish relations and the day-to-day situation in the Aegean, the way with which Greece conceives its participation in the European Union's Common Security and Defence Policy and NATO, the significance attributed by Greece to bilateral Greek-American defence cooperation and the prospects of the new Greece-Israel partnership strategy, as well as the framework of Greek defence policy.
As regards Greece's relations with Turkey, the defence minister reiterated that Greece's basic policy is the establishment of relations of good neighbourliness and close cooperation and stressed the importance of both sides implementing Confidence Building Measures. All these always in light of International Law and the Law of the Sea in particular, as he mentioned specifically.
On the question of Greek-Israeli relations, Venizelos pointed out that cooperation between the two countries must have the characteristics of a strategic cooperation, while referring to the Jewish tradition of Thessaloniki and the participation of the forces of the Air Force in the handling of the destructive wildfire in Israel last December.
source: ANA-MPA
