Mitsotakis: No revision of Lausanne Treaty; cites near elimination of Treaty-protected Greek presence in Istanbul, 2 isles

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday evening again responded directly to the latest crescendo of threats, saber-rattling and revanchist rhetoric aimed at the country by Turkish leadership and even opposition party leaders – ahead of what’s expected to be a hotly contested election in the neighboring country – saying that the landmark 1923 Lausanne Treaty will not be revised.

Going further, Mitsotakis added that “…a century of the Treaty’s imposition will be succeeded by many more (centuries).”

The center-right leader was speaking at an event at the Benaki Museum in Athens on the occasion of the 100-year anniversary of what’s called the Asia Minor Catastrophe in Greece, indelibly and woefully remembered as the eradication of the millennia-old presence of Hellenism on the western shores of present-day Turkey. Conversely, in Turkey the defeat of the Greek expedition force in western Anatolia signaled the emergence of a new nation-state, built on the ruins of the defeated and collapsed Ottoman empire.

“The Lausanne Treaty, since then, governs our co-existence with our neighbors. And this, despite the fact, that Turkey has violated it (Treaty) by uprooting the Greek element from Istanbul, Imvros (Gökçeada) and Tenedos (Bozcaada). It continues to dispute our sovereign rights. The other side of the Aegean, however, must realize that after almost a century of this Treaty’s imposition, many more (centuries) will succeeded it.

“This is required by history and geography; by legality and international stability. That is why adherence (to the Treaty) is guaranteed and will be guaranteed by Greece, with the shield being its diplomacy and its alliances, but also with the deterrence of its armed forces, but especially with its uninterrupted course towards progress, because a country’s true contest is with its past and future.”