Greece: No intention of recognizing Kosovo

Greek Ambassador to Belgrade Christos Panagopoulos says that his country has no intention of recognizing Kosovo’s unilaterally declared independence.

Izvor: Tanjug

Thursday, 20.11.2008.

09:34

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Greek Ambassador to Belgrade Christos Panagopoulos says that his country has no intention of recognizing Kosovo’s unilaterally declared independence. He said that the article in Kosovo daily Koha Ditore’s where Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis was quoted as saying that Athens would soon recognize Kosovo had misinterpreted the minister’s statement completely. Greece: No intention of recognizing Kosovo “I want to stress that it is a bad interpretation of what Minister Bakoyannis said at a press conference, reported by the Albanian media. I am also reiterating the stance of the Foreign Ministry that, in accordance with the respect for the principle of territorial integrity, there will be no recognition of Kosovo,” Panagopoulos said. “I do not know what will happen later, but I know that we will not recognize Kosovo in the near future,” he said, adding that this was Greece’s categorical stance. “There has been no change on the Kosovo issue in the policies of my government. That is why I want to avoid any kind of misinterpretation or needless tensions, especially when a friendly country is at stake. A week ago, (Greek) Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis confirmed this to (Serbian) Prime Minister Cvetkovic during last week’s visit to Athens,” the ambassador added. Albanian television station Vision Plus stated that Koha Ditore had written an article claiming that Bakoyannis had stated that Kosovo independence would soon be recognized by Greece, which the Greek Foreign Ministry denied. Christos Panagopoulos, left (FoNet, archive)

Greece: No intention of recognizing Kosovo

“I want to stress that it is a bad interpretation of what Minister Bakoyannis said at a press conference, reported by the Albanian media. I am also reiterating the stance of the Foreign Ministry that, in accordance with the respect for the principle of territorial integrity, there will be no recognition of Kosovo,” Panagopoulos said.

“I do not know what will happen later, but I know that we will not recognize Kosovo in the near future,” he said, adding that this was Greece’s categorical stance.

“There has been no change on the Kosovo issue in the policies of my government. That is why I want to avoid any kind of misinterpretation or needless tensions, especially when a friendly country is at stake. A week ago, (Greek) Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis confirmed this to (Serbian) Prime Minister Cvetković during last week’s visit to Athens,” the ambassador added.

Albanian television station Vision Plus stated that Koha Ditore had written an article claiming that Bakoyannis had stated that Kosovo independence would soon be recognized by Greece, which the Greek Foreign Ministry denied.

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