Kranidiotis: Greece united, ready to deal with any Turkish threat

Athens 09/03/1999 (ANA)
Turkey would be well advised not to involve Greece and Greek-Turkish relations in its pre-election period, Alternate Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis stressed yesterday. Mr. Kranidiotis, who was replying to reporters' questions, said Greece was "united and ready to deal with any threat from the Turkish side."
"Unfortunately, the only result of Turkey's behaviour is the creation of dangerous impasses," he said.  The Greek minister added that although he did not fear that Ankara might provoke some serious incident in the Aegean, Greece was nevertheless ready - militarily, defensively and diplomatically - to deal with any threat, and expressed a view that Turkey wo uld not attempt such "lunacy".
Replying to other questions, Mr. Kranidiotis said Greece did not support secessionist movements. Emphasising his opposition to secession through force, he underlined that international relations and borders must be respected.  Referring to the Greek veto on EU funding of Turkey, he said:  "An effort is being made by the European countries to have the veto sidestepped and the principle of unanimity abandoned for subsidisations to Turkey to be promoted. We are opposed and we are determined to prevent this course.  "We have set a series of preconditions for the funding of Turkey, which are valid, and provided these preconditions are met Greece is prepared to view the issue again. These preconditions are Turkey's position on its relations with Greece, in the Aegean , in Cyprus and its overall attitude on human rights issues. However, these are issues for discussion," he added.