“What characterizes the international geopolitical arena today is the loss of any sense of stable reference points. The stable reference points upon which the international security architecture – and, more broadly, the global geopolitical system after the Second World War – were built have now undergone a profound rupture,” Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said late on Monday, speaking at an event of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Gerapetritis explained that this rupture consists, on the one hand, in the erosion in practical terms of the rules upon which the international order and international law were founded, and, on the other, in the current downgrading of international multilateralism.

“International organizations, which in practice constituted the channels through which we could reach solutions to major global challenges, appear to be in retreat. The vacuum left by these organizations – the United Nations, even the European Union, the World Trade Organization – is essentially being filled by states that, in effect, are replacing international multilateralism with unilateral decision-making. In this new environment, countries that were not traditionally powerful are also emerging,” Gerapetritis noted.

Referring to Greek-Turkish relations, he stated:

“The question of establishing a sustainable and functional relationship with Turkiye is not a single issue resulting solely from our geopolitical neighborly relations. It clearly relates to the economy and to the broader international geopolitical landscape. However, it also involves an additional dimension.

The period of “calm waters”, as it has been described over the past three years, has given the country the opportunity to regain ground that was lost during the economic crisis – at a time when defense capabilities were significantly weakened and international relations had suffered a severe rupture, both due to entrenched stereotypes and because Greece lacked the means to assert itself effectively in the international environment.”

He also referred to Greece’s alliances, which – he noted – effectively position the country as a hub of political power.

“At present, we maintain a major strategic partnership with the United States, a strategic relationship with Israel, a strategic partnership with the Gulf countries, and a strategic relationship with India. This constitutes a vast arc that, in practice, multiplies our geopolitical influence, creates new conditions related to connectivity, and effectively establishes Greece as an equal partner and interlocutor with all these countries. As a result, today Greece holds key positions in nearly all international organizations and is regarded as a producer and exporter of security to other countries – countries that were traditionally either more powerful or oriented toward other competing states,” Gerapetritis stated.