Antonis Samaras has become a “foreign body” for New Democracy members, not only for the ruling party’s leadership, but also for top “blue” officials and ND voters, following his continuous inappropriate attacks on the government and personally on Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Antonis Samaras becomes “foreign body” for New Democracy, the “jabs” from Voridis and Dendias
Indicative are yesterday’s statements by former minister of right-wing origins, Makis Voridis, who spoke of “absolutely nihilistic criticism“. “If Kyriakos Mitsotakis has patriotic deficits, then why has he received 41% twice? Why has his policy been rewarded and after seven years of governance does he continue to lead by 12-15%? When has this happened again in post-transition political history?“, the “blue” MP noted characteristically. Indeed, he meaningfully commented that Ankara’s reactions don’t stem from appeasement, but from active foreign policy, which, as he said, has “cornered” them. “What has this government done? The 12 nautical miles in the Ionian, the armaments with frigates, Rafale and F-35s, excavations at the point of the Turkey-Libya pseudo-memorandum. If all these were easy and obvious and simple, then why hadn’t previous governments done them?“, Makis Voridis further wondered.
Similarly, days ago Defense Minister Nikos Dendias gave sharp responses to Mr. Samaras’s accusations of retreating against Turkey due to the withdrawal of Patriots from Karpathos and Didymoteicho. “There is a simple argument that explains and proves why the Patriots weren’t there for Turkey. If Patriots were needed to address the Turkish threat, obviously for many years that we’ve had them, some Greek government, some General Staff would have placed them there or on some other island in the Eastern Aegean. The fact that they were never placed there proves the obvious. They’re not for that job. Patriots are for another job, so the operational planning that led to their placement there was explained. It concerns the threat from Iran“.
New Samaras attack against Mitsotakis over… Karystianou
Yesterday Mr. Samaras returned to his criticism of the government on national issues, adding the wiretapping issue. “Systematically for about five years now, Erdogan’s “Blue Homeland” is not only publicly announced but also implemented in practice, with fait accompli. I have warned that the policy of appeasement is a deception and leads to neighbors’ boldness. At every step of our retreat, they present their next claim. There were never calm waters from their side. They existed only in communication terms, because we didn’t react. And so, we managed to whitewash them internationally“, he said from the parliamentary podium and added: “The situation now is even more dangerous. Turkey’s announcement of legislation for a completely arbitrary, illegal and irrational extension in the Aegean is no joke. Nor is it for domestic consumption. It’s the critical moment they’re waiting for. The turning point in Greek-Turkish relations. If this happens, we’re heading to a national crisis with mathematical precision. They want a hot incident to occur so this becomes the pretext for arbitration. This is the Turkish goal“.
Mr. Samaras also personally attacked the Foreign Minister saying that “Foreign Minister Gerapetritis’s recent public admission that if Turkey implements its announcements, escalation of tension cannot be ruled out, is an admission that this policy failed. Did the Foreign Minister also join us, whom you called “professional worriers”? I warn again: Greece must move in all international forums and with all possible alliances before Turkey legislates. Don’t you finally understand that we must act before it’s too late? We must therefore take initiatives, especially in the EU“.
The former prime minister, in an attempt to give his parliamentary speech the character of a political manifesto, also referred to ND’s founder saying that “for three reasons Konstantinos Karamanlis brought Greece into Europe. For democracy’s protection, for economic prosperity and for our security’s armor. Will we abandon security’s armor?”, he wondered and added: “Konstantinos Karamanlis, whom I served from the first moment, established Democracy in modern Greece, but also in the Party. With normalcy, political synthesis, popular base, European orientation, multidimensional foreign policy and the nation as compass. No relation to today’s mutated party of Mr. Mitsotakis. A political formation with a “riverside ideology” of “whatever”“.
Mr. Samaras continued with an overall attack on wiretapping, OPEKEPE, Tempe, Kassos, the demographic issue, the deserted provinces, youth, “left without compass”, to… the intense smell that has flooded Athens for 3 days. And he closed with another reference to Konstantinos Karamanlis, saying that “Greece has been transformed into a vast madhouse“. Responding indirectly, government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis emphasized that the government’s priority remains “the agenda set by society” and not personal political pursuits. “It’s not our job to respond to anyone’s personal agenda”, he noted, sending a clear message after the former prime minister’s parliamentary speech.
This move by the Messenian politician didn’t surprise the government, as recently there have been multiplied indications that Mr. Samaras is also preparing to create a party. However, yesterday’s sharp parliamentary intervention is estimated to have been “provoked” by the announcement of Maria Karystianou’s party, one day earlier in Thessaloniki. According to polls so far, the electorate’s interest in the new political formation by the former president of the Tempe Association is particularly increased compared to corresponding attempts by Alexis Tsipras and Antonis Samaras. This, combined with the fact that a potential party by the former ND prime minister would address almost the same audience as Karystianou’s “Hope for Democracy”, seems to push Mr. Samaras into more intense and frequent attacks against the government.
Among the New Democracy public, however, Mr. Samaras’s references seem limited, with latest estimates placing a potential Samaras party’s dynamics at around 2-3%, having reserves of about 7% from ND and 2% from Greek Solution.
Moreover, his path within ND was turbulent and doesn’t provide characteristics of a consistent party course. Everyone remembers the founding of Political Spring and the fall of the ND government. They also remember that in spring 1995, ahead of Konstantinos Karamanlis’s second presidential term expiry, Antonis Samaras’s proposal for Kostis Stephanopoulos’s candidacy for President in 1995 facilitated Andreas Papandreou and contributed to halting ND’s upward trend.
At the same time, many ministers, deputy ministers or simple MPs in the 2012-2015 government remember well what Mr. Samaras did then as prime minister on Greek-Turkish relations and what he proclaims now.
Three very characteristic examples are the following:
– In March 2013, the Greece-Turkey High-Level Cooperation Council Summit took place (in Turkey), with Samaras publicly addressing Erdogan as “Friend Mr. Prime Minister” and declaring that “Greece has supported and supports Turkey’s European prospect”. Samaras even emphasized after the Summit that “it is the responsibility and duty of our governments to make every possible effort to improve, to strengthen our bilateral relations for the benefit of precisely the stability of the broader region”.
– During the same period, Turkey disputes (at the UN no less) what law 4001/2011 provides regarding the external boundaries of the Greek continental shelf. It characterizes them as “misleading and unfounded”, in an obvious attempt to cancel islands’ rights to maritime zones. Specifically, Ankara submitted a verbal note to the UN “erasing” Kastellorizo from the map and arguing that the islands of the Megisti complex don’t have a continental shelf.
– In September 2014, Samaras and Erdogan met in Newport, Wales, on the sidelines of the NATO Summit, despite provocative statements made by Turkey’s president (by then) a few days earlier from the Occupied Territories. Simultaneously, the Turkish research vessel “Barbaros” had arrived outside the Occupied Territories with Erdogan, which would conduct research in the area.
