Dendias and Dačić: Mutual support for territorial integrity
After meeting with the head of Serbian diplomacy at a joint press conference, Dendias said that Greece was committed to reaching a compromise solution in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, in accordance with international law and adhering to the UN Security Council resolutions.
He also said that every decision had to be made within the framework of a joint dialogue and that it was necessary to avoid tensions.
He thanked Serbia for respecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Greece and Cyprus and emphasised that Greece did not want tensions, but that it was always in favour of constructive dialogue with respect for international law.
"We respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of everyone and we know that Serbia respects that as well," Dendias said.
Noting that there are revisionist aspirations in the Western Balkan region and that there are those who do not want Serbia to become a member of the EU, Dendias said that Greece would help Serbia since they believed that Serbia was an important country in the Balkans and that it cannot remain outside the EU.
"We support the European perspective of Serbia", Dendias said and added that at today's meeting they also had discussed energy, sources of supply, as well as the construction of a gas pipeline through Serbia.
He pointed out that Greece put importance to relations with Serbia and assessed that they had been friendly throughout history.
"We know that the ties are historical, we fought together, I am from Corfu, and Corfu is identified with Serbian history. I will never forget the song Tamo Daleko, as well as the huge sacrifices of the Serbian people, but our ties are not only historical, they are strong even today, and we also talked about the economy, energy, culture, and we will continue to talk about defence, as well as the development of Greek investments in Serbia,” Dendias said.
He congratulated Dačić on his new post, expressing his satisfaction that he chose Greece as his first official bilateral visit.
"This is your first visit, we will work together to contribute to peace and stability in the Balkans and in Europe because the Balkans are very important for Europe," said the Greek Foreign Minister.
Dačić pointed out that in his new mandate, he had chosen Greece as the first country he would visit, because he believed that there was a historical alliance between two peoples and two countries.
He also said that neither Serbia nor Greece ever allowed their friendship to be unencumbered by the relations of other, third countries, or at least they tried to make it so.
"We should be guided by our interest, which is to develop our bilateral relations and work for the benefit of our citizens," said Dačić and thanked the Greek people for their great support and protest against the NATO bombing of Serbia.
"You can also count on the fact that Serbs consider Greece a part of their common past and their being. Two of our three holy places are in the territory of Greece - Hilandar and Corfu, i.e. the Blue Tomb where tens of thousands of our soldiers found eternal peace. "Our third shrine is the monasteries in Kosovo and Metohija, which are all from the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries," said Dačić.
The head of Serbian diplomacy pointed out that Greece could count on Serbia's support in terms of territorial integrity and sovereignty, because Serbia considered this to be a universal principle.
"We are against a selective approach to that issue, so that it depends on whether the great world powers like it or not. We approach that principle unquestionably. Serbia strongly and consistently supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Greece and Cyprus, on land, sea and air and all the islands in the Aegean Sea. With regard to this, and also with regard to us, we emphasise the importance of international law, resolutions of the UN Security Council, the Convention of the Sea in the Greek case, and in our case Resolution 12 44," said Dačić.
He also said that this position of Serbia had not changed, and that Serbia expected and hoped that Greece would not change its position regarding the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia.
The head of Serbian diplomacy pointed out that Belgrade stood for dialogue, for a political solution to the problem, but not for dialogue that was not the result of an agreement.
"Any recognition of Kosovo or admission to international organisations is a violation of Serbia's territorial integrity and therefore of international law," said Dačić and stated that he conveyed to the Greek officials with whom he spoke today that Serbia adhered to the Brussels Agreement and wanted it to lead to a political solution, and not to accept that the solution had already been made.
He thanked for the support for European integration and territorial integrity and stated that he was looking forward to all the meetings, as well as the announced visit of the President of Greece, and the meetings of the High Council for Cooperation.
"Greece and Serbia have nothing to argue about, except for sports, but okay, we need to have something to compete about," said Dačić.
Source/Photo: Tanjug