Athens' 'Watergate' and the Minority

The scandal of illegal eavesdropping of Nikos Androulakis, the leader of Greece's third largest political party (PASOK-KINAL), with a spyware application, occupied the country's agenda as Greece's Watergate throughout the summer and seems to continue to do so.

We do not know what conclusion the research-investigation committee established under the roof of the parliament will reach, but the reaction in the eyes of the public does not seem to be easily compensated. In the face of this event, to which all opposition parties reacted, the ruling New Democracy Party rejected the claim that 7-8 more high-level politicians of the main opposition SYRIZA Party were wiretapped(1). It does not resemble the list of fifteen thousand people mentioned.

The ruling party is looking for a way to get rid of the scandal by rejecting the scandal, and as a matter of fact, in the statements made in the first days, they declared that the prime minister was not aware of such a situation and would have prevented it if it had. In fact, the issue was not only limited to eavesdropping with a spyware application, but was also legally followed by the Greek Secret Intelligence Service (EIP). The reasons why it was followed will remain a secret. The party officials, directed to the ruling party, said, "How does the chairman of the party create a national threat to the country that justifies it to be wiretapped legally?" The question is not answered by the ruling party.

The European Commission informs N. Androulakis of the follow-up status. The response to Androulakis, who applied to the European Spyware Detection Technologies Unit, says that it is a Spyware-Predator application. Another noteworthy thing is that this happened about a week after Androulakis announced his candidacy for party chairmanship. In fact, the more important issue is that the New York Times newspaper(3) reported this situation in the autumn of 2021 without giving a name.

When Euractiv first raised this issue and asked Prime Minister Mitsotakis, the prime minister vehemently refused, saying: “You write stupid, useless things”(4). While he refused, the European Commission demanded that the incident be clarified from Greece and stated that the European expert units were ready to intervene in the face of it being examined by the European Parliament or the Commission and incapable of explaining the situation. The SYRIZA Party, on the other hand, sang in the parliament, demanding the intervention of the commission through the European Parliament Deputy Dimitris Papadimoulis(5).

Greece, a principal member of the European Family, demanded that Europe not get involved in the "National Security" affairs(6) and cut its interest, with the notification sent by the current government. Why did such a sharp dilemma arise in the family? Why was the issue that Europe was one in any case worth considering?

The policies followed by the ruling party, New Democracy, are seen as putting their country under the unconditional command of America. This worries its European partners to the core. Europe, which sees the USA behind the scenes as a kind of responsible for the crises, shows the Mitsotakis government a yellow card. The government, which cannot react seriously to its partners and cannot say not to meddle in our internal affairs, is looking for a responsible person. He was also speaking from the parliamentary rostrum with the mouth of the Deputy Speaker of the Greek Parliament and the former Minister of Justice, and declaring that Minority deputies could be heard(7), declaring both Minority deputies and the voters represented by them as a potential danger in the person of deputies.

The reflection of the message given after this announcement came to life in the ordinary citizen, who is the lower stratum of the society, we think, and an event took place for the first time in the history of Western Thrace, as far as we know. In Xanthi, a group of twenty people beat a sixteen-year-old minority youth to death(8). We do not know what the police will come to as a result of the investigation, what kind of decision the court will make, but we wonder if the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament achieved his goal with his fine-tuning message.

Defined as the scandal of the century by the opposition parties and overwhelmed by its pressure, the government persistently tries to turn the issue into a Western Thrace Muslim Turkish Minority problem and does not stray from this effort. In an effort to reach a conclusion, it places the Minority deputies on the target board and simply presents the issue to the public as a NATIONAL DANGER. The public does not find the statement of the PASOK-KINAL deputy, who retracted his statement and made a new statement, credible. The public believes that it will be targeted even if it is not the last statement of the relevant deputy. Although the deputy, as a result of retracting the statement, was a matter of debate in the minority community, it would have been unsatisfactory for the ruling party, as this time the main opposition demanded the expulsion of the SYRIZA Party Minority Member of Parliament from the party.

Talking about the concept of civilization and freedom of thought, Athens ranks 108th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index 2022 report, placing it in the lowest ranks in Europe.(10)

Declaring the minority guilty will not save the Mitsotakis government, which is looking for a way out in the US-Europe grip. The opposition does not respect these reasons, the voters are not satisfied. The government is likely to wear out by the election date, because the pressure from Europe on Mitsotakis is in a position to overwhelm him.

The government, which has increased its pressure on the minority, is aiming for a society that only bows down, says okay sir, cannot raise a voice against the disappearance of any of its fundamental rights, and denies its own real existence. However, he should not forget that he cannot achieve this, and he should not forget the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, which he was sentenced accordingly.

In addition, giving the Minority the basic human rights guaranteed by international treaties does not humiliate it, on the contrary, it makes it more respectable in the eyes of international societies.

Repressing the minority must not be an administration in line with the understanding of the civilized world. Or is civilization something other than our understanding!?

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1- https://www.in.gr/2022/08/14/politics/ypoklopes-maxi-gia-tin-protovoulia-ton-kiniseon-ti-sxediazei-kyvernisi-tin-eksetastiki/
2- https://www.kathimerini.gr/opinion/561989737/ypoklopes-politiki-kai-syntagmatiki-diastasi/
3- https://www.ieidiseis.gr/kosmos/156728/peplo-parakolouthiseon-kai-kataskopeias-stin-evropi-pos-leitourgoyn-predator-kai-pegasus
-https://www.thetoc.gr/politiki/article/oi-new-york-times-gia-tin-apopeira-upoklopis-touu-tilefonou-tou-nikou-androulaki--europaiko-fainomeno/
4- https://www.documentonews.gr/article/protofanis-epithesi-mitsotaki-sto-euractiv-grafete-saxlamares/
5- https://www.libre.gr/koryfi-toy-pagovoynoy-i-ypothesi-andro/  ----- https://www.in.gr/2022/07/30/b-science/technology/ypoklopes-kai-nea-ypothesi-kyvernitikou-spyware-stin-eyropi-apokalyptei-microsoft/
6- https://www.thetoc.gr/politiki/best-of-internet/ti-egrapse-to-politico-gia-tis-upoklopes-to-predator-kai-tin-kubernisi-kai-i-alitheia-gia-tin-epistoli-tou-ellina-presbi-stis-bruxelles/
7- https://www.efsyn.gr/politiki/kybernisi/355282_athlioi-ypainigmoi-apo-h-athanasioy-gia-na-dikaiologisei-tis-ypoklopes
8- https://www.milletgazetesi.gr/bati-trakya/iskecede-turk-genci-feci-sekilde-doverek-hastanelik-ettiler
-https://www.ulkugazetesi.net/azinlik-temsilcileri-16-yasindaki-turk-gence-yapilan-saldiriyi-kinadi/
-https://www.burasibatitrakya.com/haberler/30860-bttdd-den-i̇skeçe-deki-saldırıyla-ilgili-açıklama.html
9- https://www.political.gr/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/POLITICAL-457.pdf
10- https://www.libre.gr/koryfi-toy-pagovoynoy-i-ypothesi-andro/