PRESS CONFERENCE BY DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER OF GREECE

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER OF GREECE

Yannos Kranidiotis, Deputy Foreign Minister of Greece, told a Headquarters press briefing today that Greece should be given an opportunity to serve on the Security Council in the elections for the Western European and Other States seat to be held on Thursday, 8 October. Two other countries -- Canada and the Netherlands -- are also contesting the non-permanent seat for the years 1999 and 2000.

He said Greece had the right to Council membership as did the other two, who had served on the Council "many times before". Canada had been on the Council five times, and the Netherlands, four times. Greece had only served once, in 1952-1953.

Greece was a founder-member of the United Nations and an original signatory of the Charter, he said. In 1994, it had voluntarily withdrawn its candidature for the Security Council for the period 1995-1996 in order to facilitate the election of an agreed candidate within the Western European and Other States Group. It had not been possible to have a consensus candidate among the Western European countries, unlike the African Group which had established an admirable working principle on the selection of candidates.

Arguing the case for Greek membership of the Council, Mr. Kranidiotis said it believed that every Member State must at least have equal right to be represented in the different organs of the Organization, particularly in the Security Council, to help promote further the objectives and goals of the Charter and the Organization's policies. "I do not think, on the other hand, that it is fair to have a Security Council that is an exclusive club of a number of countries -- rich, big and powerful -- and in this way create a group of semi-permanent members", he stated.

Statistics showed, he went on, that among the Western European Group, there were countries which had served for a number of years on the Council in a near permanent fashion. It was time to reform the Organization, to make it more democratic, more transparent and representative. It was absolutely necessary for the principle of rotation to be followed. Friends and partners of Greece had listened with great interest to that argument, he added. Greece could play a constructive role in the Security Council. It was one of the countries which had voluntarily decided to increase its annual contributions to the United Nations peacekeeping budget. At the same time, Greece paid its contributions to the regular budget in a timely manner, he stressed.

The strategic location of Greece in the south-east corner of Europe, and in as sensitive a region as the Balkans and the Middle East, required that it be given the opportunity to participate in the work of a major organ as the Security Council, he said. Greece had the possibility and the capability to express and represent the interests of the Western European Group, as well as

Greece Press Conference - 2 - 6 October 1998

those of a wider range of countries and peoples because of its geographic location, history and cultural traditions, he added.

He remarked that Greece had never been a colonial Power and had developed good relations with many countries in the developing world and the Non-Aligned Movement. It was something that had to be considered in the evaluation of its candidacy, he noted. Greece had been closely involved in the work of the Organization, and because of its own struggle for national liberation and independence, had always taken a very strong stand on issues pertaining to those questions. It had also taken initiatives and those were experiences which could be useful in the work of the Security Council. It looked forward to the challenge.

What would be Greece's position -- were it to be on the Council -- in dealing with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia over the question of Kosovo? a correspondent asked. Noting that the question was hypothetical, Mr. Kranidiotis said the Greek position was similar to those reached by member States of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He said all diplomatic initiatives should be pursued. The leaders of Bulgaria, Romania and Greece had met in Greece two days ago and issued a statement strongly appealing to President Slobodan Milosevic of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to comply with Security Council resolutions on Kosovo, hold negotiations without preconditions with representatives of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, and to withdraw his forces from there. Greece was careful about its comments on the situation in Kosovo as it was "in the neighbourhood". It would directly feel the consequences of any escalation of the violence in Kosovo. The situation was being watched very carefully by his Government, he said, and added that the next few days were very crucial. "The international community and the countries in the area have a duty, and the obligation to help avoid the escalation of violence and to try to find a peaceful solution to the crisis." Greece was for self-government and autonomy for the Kosovo region within the boundaries of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Asked whether his country would consider joining any conflict between Turkey and Syria, he said such a conflict would be "nonsense". He hoped the two countries would manage to resolve their differences peacefully. Greece also hoped the military alliance between Turkey and Israel would not work against any neighbouring country, nor upset the balance of power in the region. He stressed that his Government had no military pact or agreement with Syria. Greece and Turkey had a "a gentleman's agreement" not to undermine each other's quest for membership of the Security Council.

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