Dendias: It is obvious that Greece cannot take Turkey's "permanent" NAVTEX seriously

“I do not know for what reasons, of domestic policy, they did this. On a legal level, permanent NAVTEX have no substance,” added Mr. Dendias speaking to Alpha Radio, adding that “they do not help relations with Greece.”

“We are not at all prepared to consider that this constitutes an action that Greece is committed to reacting to in a way that would allow Greece to consider that this Navtex is imposed in practice. We are not used to such a thing, it is completely out of context, what can one say,” concluded the Minister of National Defense on this issue.

Regarding relations with France on the occasion of yesterday's visit of his French counterpart to Greece, Mr. Dendias said that "our aim is not to limit the defense agreement with France, it is an agreement that has worked, it is time to revisit it and deepen and expand it. Both the Prime Minister and President Macron want the agreement to be signed by the Spring of 2026."

Speaking about the new doctrine in the Armed Forces, he stressed that "we have ED that can fully prevent any threat. What we are doing now is a radical transformation with a horizon of 2030. What is being attempted is the transformation of ED from a set of combat-ready personnel and powerful systems, into an information receiving and processing machine, a knowledge machine."

The Armed Forces had been threatened with becoming a state-owned enterprise of the 1980s, and we have addressed this, the Minister of National Defense continued in this context.

Regarding the changes in service, he said that "with the exception of special forces and cadets, all other conscripts had little or no training. They were given a magazine throughout their service and their use was as lookouts and chores. We are changing this. In February 2026, which will follow the new training, those with relevant specialties will go to the navy and air force. We are also changing the supply system, we are giving 100 euros to anyone serving at the borders, while before we were giving 8. We must try to build a worthy army. We rely on the army of citizens."

"Greece has up to 12 miles and it will decide when and how to do it based on the national interest," said the Minister of National Defense, who announced that on March 25th we will show the Navy unit that will produce drones even with containers on ships.

On the occasion of the sad anniversary of the Imia, he said that "the Greek Navy has learned the lessons from the mistakes made. The Imia, however, did not start from the armed forces or the government but from the actions of private individuals. The demonstration of patriotism is commendable but not for publicity purposes.

Finally, when asked about the polls, he spoke of a "chaotic political landscape" and added: my job is not to look at the problems of the opposition but to look at the government and the party I belong to and what protective measures it can take. A single party government is not a doctrine, it is a goal. "To achieve this, we need to see what we need to refresh, what mistakes we made. We have been in government for 7 years and people are sending us warnings. We need to have convincing reasons for where we were late or failed."