Member of the Greek Parliament Appealed to the Foreign Ministry Due to the Violation in the EU of the Rights of the Greeks of Crimea

22 May 2021, VZGLYAD newspaper

Member of the Greek Parliament from the MERA25 party, Maria Apatzidi, appealed to Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias to lift the ban on the right of Crimean Greeks to visit the country, since, in her opinion, the sanctions policy of the European Union (EU) does not serve the interests of Europe, it only adds problems.

Apatzidi in a letter to the Foreign Ministry refers to the statement of the Greek club "Friends of Crimea", which says that because of the sanctions, an unthinkable situation has developed, and the Greeks of Crimea are prohibited from traveling to Greece because of the EU's disagreement with Moscow's policies, RIA Novosti reports.

“The sanctions policy of the European Union does not serve European interests, on the contrary, it only adds problems and disagreements to the Old Continent, which is suffering from such a policy. The only interests it can serve are those of the short-sighted and outdated politicians of the transatlantic "allies" who dictate them. To serve these interests, and only them, alien to both Greece and Europe as a whole, the Greek political leadership condemns part of Hellenism to a ban on entry to Greece,” the letter states.

She pointed out that Greece has a special privilege - to unite peoples and cultures, since it occupies a special place on the world map, at the crossroads of peoples and their ways, with its great culture, which has been formed over the centuries as a result of continuous interaction with dozens of other cultures in the region and beyond, and especially with its people, who live and create in all corners of the planet, not forgetting about their origin and history.

“This privilege is at the same time its duty to humanity and especially to Europe. Greece cannot be anything other than an organ of peace, cooperation and the unity of peoples. It cannot represent anything other than a Europe that respects the needs and interests, but also the right to self-determination of its peoples”.

The MP stressed that Europe should not sacrifice the well-being and peaceful coexistence of the people for the sake of narrow interests, especially those of others.

"The Greek Foreign Ministry is blindly following the requirements of the European Union, even if they contradict the protection of the rights of Greeks, whether they are citizens, or whether they are of Greek origin, in the long-suffering region of Crimea," Apatzidi said.

She also expressed the opinion that Ukraine could be "a bridge between the states of the European Union and Russia, acting as a harmonious field for the development of relations between them," but the country, due to the situation in the east and "with the assistance and support of the United States of America, NATO and central European states, some of which make up the core of the European Union”, is turning into a field of conflict between the West and Russia.

“As a party, MERA25 is primarily concerned with the rights of residents and only secondarily with the interests of states. To protect the political and human rights of residents of eastern Ukraine, we are following the development of events with concern and concern, ”the deputy added.

Crimea became a Russian region after a referendum, where more than 96% of the participants voted in favor of reunification with Russia. Kiev refused to recognize the reunification of Crimea with Russia and considers it an "occupied" territory. President Vladimir Putin emphasized that the issue of Crimea's ownership has been closed completely.

(Translated from Russian) https://vz.ru/news/2021/5/22/1100488.html

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