“We always stand by the Ukrainian people,” declared President Katerina Sakellaropoulou of the Hellenic Republic, in a brief video message commemorating the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Saturday.
“It’s now two years that Ukraine has been resisting the unprovoked Russian invasion. The heroic struggle of the Ukrainian people for freedom, national sovereignty, and territorial integrity is a source of inspiration and admiration for all of us. We always stand by their side. Slava Ukraini!”
Sakellaropoulou stated.
Echoing President Sakellaropoulou’s statement, Greece’s Foreign Ministry affirmed the nation’s unwavering commitment to stand by Ukraine, emphasizing its determination to support Ukraine’s just struggle for independence.
“Greece stands firmly by the side of the brave Ukrainian people who are fighting for the independence and sovereignty of their country. Our support to the government and people of Ukraine is continuous and sincere,”
the ministry enunciated on Saturday, commemorating the anniversary. “Our position is unequivocal: changes to internationally recognized borders with the use of military force are contrary to the Charter of the United Nations and therefore unacceptable.”
“Greece does not forget the victims of the Russian attacks and the disasters in Mariupol, in a region where populous Greek communities developed for centuries,”
it concluded.
Since Turkey closed the Straits, the Strategic Port of Alexandroupolis in Greece has become a vital artery for supplying Ukraine. The U.S. uploads weapons and other supplies to the Greek port and, from there, trucks or sends them via rail through Bulgaria and Romania into Ukraine.
Greece trained Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets and provided Ukraine with weapons. The title of the Forbes article, penned by David Axe, succinctly conveys its message: Joe Biden Is Arming Greece So Greece Can Arm Ukraine - And Pro-Russia Republicans Can’t Stop Him.
Greece has a rich history of aligning itself with the United States and the Western world. In the First World War, it stood alongside the Americans and their allies. In World War II, Greece played a pivotal role in forming a highly effective resistance movement against Nazi Germany. However, this courageous stand came at a heavy cost, leading to substantial destruction, widespread famine, and the loss of millions of lives because of harsh German reprisals.
Greece remained a reliable Western ally since its entry into NATO in 1952. The country became a member of the European Union in 1981.
By contrast, Greece’s neighbors and main adversaries, the Ottoman Turks, sided with the Axis powers and fought against the United States and its friends during World War I. The Turks collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II. They allowed German warships to pass through the Straits and teamed with Germany’s secret services. And what was more? They supplied the Nazis with chromium ore that enabled Hitler to prolong the war for several months.
Although a NATO member, Turkey played the West against the East and milked both sides during the Cold War. Outside the Soviet bloc, Turkey was the largest recipient of Soviet aid. The Turks continue to play the same “double game” in the war in Ukraine now.
Greek-American relations faced a challenging phase in the late 1960s when the United States, regrettably, did not support the democratic factions in Greece. Instead, it endorsed the military junta, a decision described by Laurence Stern, (1977), a Washington Post editor, as “backing the wrong horse.”
The situation escalated when Henry Kissinger sided with the Turks during the 1974 Cyprus crisis, actively facilitating the Turkish invasion of the island. His primary concern was not to displease Turkey, which, in his view, was a more important NATO ally than Greece, only to find out later that many U.S. lawmakers disagreed with him and imposed an arms embargo on Ankara. American laws mattered, and Greece was equally significant to the West.
Testifying the importance of Greece to the West before the Committee on Foreign Affairs during the arms embargo debate, George Ball said:
“I think we make a serious error even in the crassest terms of realpolitik to think Turkey has a special importance because it is the eastern anchor, and therefore we can permit a situation to develop between Turkey and its next-door neighbor which is also a member of NATO, without doing irreparable harm to the whole fabric of NATO.
Let’s suppose that the situation I suggested a moment ago, which I certainly hope won’t come to pass, that the Greeks have been put in such a position of humiliation that they may turn rather irrationally toward the extreme left. Suppose you have a Soviet arrangement with Greece of some kind. Where does that leave Turkey, and where does that leave the eastern flank of NATO? It leaves it isolated.”
At another point, George Ball also said:
“I think that apart from the specific role that either Turkey or Greece may play within the total planning of a NATO defense, to see either one of them withdraw from NATO would have very, very sad effects. This is what disturbs me. I am frankly not prepared to say that one is more important than the other from a military point of view.”
General James Van Fleet, former commander of U.N. forces in Korea and former head of the United States Advisory and Aid Group in Greece voiced strong reservations about Kissinger’s bias towards Turkey.
“Greece is the strategic key to the Eastern Mediterranean and clearly more important than Turkey to the strategic interests of the United States and NATO, as President Truman so well understood when he announced the Truman Doctrine.”
In the early 2000s, Greece confronted a severe debt crisis, but the country persevered. By 2022, Greece topped The Economist’s annual ranking of rich-world economies for its economic performance. It repeated the same achievement in 2023.
The Economist’s country of the year for 2023
Greece topped our annual ranking of rich-world economies in 2023.
Economist ranks Greek economy in top place | eKathimerini.com
To contain Turkey’s ‘Blue Homeland’ doctrine and neo-Ottoman ambitions, Greece embarked on a multi-billion-euro defense modernization program, which included the purchase of more French RAFALE jet fighters and American F-35s.
A Franco-Greek defense agreement signed between France and Greece on September 27, 2021, incorporated a mutual defense clause (Article 2). This accord enhances Greece’s security by offering additional protection in the event of an attack by a third country.
Article 2 of the agreement specifies: “The Parties shall provide each other with assistance, with all appropriate means at their disposal, if necessary by the use of armed force, if they jointly find that an armed aggression is taking place against the territory of one of the two, in accordance with Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations.”
While Greece possesses the capability to defend its sovereignty, Cyprus, a small EU independent state situated just forty miles south of Turkey with a predominantly Greek population, finds itself vulnerable to the whims of its northern neighbor.
Cyprus shares a parallel plight with Ukraine, as a portion of its territory is currently under the occupation of a foreign power—in this instance, Turkey.