The General Directorate of National Defence Policy and International Relations (GDNDPIR) of the Ministry of National Defence, as part of its activities, undertook an initiative to strengthen the bilateral defence relations between Greece and the Visegrad Group countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia).
In particular, on Wednesday 01 March 2023, a delegation of officials from the General Directorates of Defence Policy of the Greek and Czech Ministries of Defence, headed by the General Director of National Defence Policy and International Relations of the Ministry of National Defence, Dr. Konstantinos Balomenos and his Czech counterpart Dr. Martin Riegl, visited Armed Forces formations in Evros, whose personnel played a key role in addressing the migration crisis of February — March 2020.
The purpose of the visit was to inform the Czech delegation, on the ground, about the process that was followed in order to deal with this crisis, the continuous instrumentalisation of illegal immigration by Türkiye, and finally, to understand the current situation in relation to the migration issue. In this light, the two delegations visited:
• The headquarters of the XII Mechanised Infantry Division in Alexandroupolis.
• The Regional Center for Integrated Border Management and Migration in Alexandroupolis.
• The headquarters of the XVI Mechanised Infantry Division in Didymoteicho.
• The checkpoint of Kastanies (Surveillance outpost “Fylakio-1”) on the North-Eastern border of our country with Türkiye.
• The border fence in the area of Kastanies.
At noon on the same day, a lunch was arranged in honor of the Czech delegation at the headquarters of the XVI Mechanised Infantry Division in Didymoteicho, where the General Director of National Defence Policy and International Relations Dr. Konstantinos Balomenos and his counterpart Dr. Martin Riegl had the opportunity to exchange views on the migration issue and the destabilising role of Türkiye in the region, as well as to speak with members of the armed forces operating in the operational field.
On Thursday 02 March 2023, Dr. Konstantinos Balomenos and his counterpart Dr. Martin Riegl, together with their delegations, held bilateral consultations at the headquarters of the Ministry of National Defence in Athens. The main axes of the debate were:
• The deepening of the bilateral defence relations between Greece and the Czech Republic, as well as the enhancement of their cooperation within NATO and the EU.
• The analysis of the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the broader geopolitical environment.
• The security situation in the Western Balkans.
• The security situation in the Eastern Mediterranean.
At the end of the bilateral consultations, the two Defence Policy Directors, acknowledging the exceptional level of defence cooperation between the two countries, agreed to establish a common framework for action at both military and political levels, aimed at highlighting the geopolitical role of the two countries in the wider region of Europe, the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Considering that the Czech Republic and the other countries of the Visegrad group, during the upsurge of the migration issue in 2015, were differentiated from the common European migration policy and criticised Greece for its way of managing the migration crisis, this action is of the utmost national importance.
In particular, this action is an excellent opportunity to:
• Highlight Greece’s role in tackling the migration problem (compared to 2015 a 95 % reduction in migration flows has been achieved) and its contribution to European security.
• Make the Visegrad countries realize that Europe’s eastern borders both on land and at sea are identical to those of Greece and that during the March 2020 crisis in Evros, Greece defended Europe’s borders in the most effective way from Türkiye’s hybrid threat.
• Update and internationalize our experience and useful conclusions from the migration crisis of February-March 2020 in the Evros region, after the completion of 3 years of the events at the Greek-Turkish border in Kastanies.
• Improve our bilateral defence relations with the Visegrad countries and create a positive narrative for Greece, in relation to its contribution to addressing the migration issue, but also to its role as a pillar of stability and security in the Balkan and Eastern Mediterranean regions.
The same initiative will be repeated by the General Directorate of National Defence Policy and International Relations at the beginning of April 2023, towards a similar delegation from the Hungarian Ministry of Defence.
