A remark on live television

On the morning of Thursday, 22 October, New Democracy MP Dimitris Kalogeropoulos was asked about the Turkey-Libya memorandum during a MEGA News programme. He answered with a single short phrase in Greek, which in English reads as follows.

When the journalist asked him to repeat what he had said, he replied that he had said it in Greek, and the studio laughed. Coverage also recalled a January 2024 remark by Theodora Tzakri about farmers that used a similar expression.

What prompted the remark

The remark followed the approval of a maritime delimitation agreement between Turkey and Libya by the House of Representatives in eastern Libya. Kalogeropoulos's own later statement calls the memorandum pseudo-named and says it produces no legal effects against Greek sovereign rights. He described it as contrary to international law, geography and logic.

Criticism of government handling

Beyond the phrase itself, Kalogeropoulos criticised the approach Greece had taken before the approval, saying the country had been waiting for certain things.

“We sat and waited for certain things.”

He added that foreign policy is very serious and that, because of mistakes made, Greece is now at a point where Turkey is asking for written information. He also referred to dismissive remarks by unnamed others about "lentil heroes", an expression he used without naming any target.

Clarification on social media

Later on Thursday he published a post describing the phrase as unfortunate and saying it did not reflect the national position or his belief that Greece has strong diplomatic and geostrategic advantages.

“On a morning programme on MEGA News, I used an unfortunate expression.”

In the same post he said the armed forces had been strengthened more than at any time in past decades and that an exclusive economic zone agreement with Egypt covered the area of the memorandum. He also cited energy agreements with US companies for exploration, which he said overturn the memorandum in practice. He ended by restating his commitment to the national line on sovereignty.