CITIZENS' PROTECTION MINISTER CHRYSOCHOIDIS AND PM A/S

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ATHENS 001593 SIPDIS AMEMBASSY ANKARA PASS TO AMCONSUL ADANA AMEMBASSY ASTANA PASS TO USOFFICE ALMATY AMEMBASSY BERLIN PASS TO AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF AMEMBASSY BERLIN PASS TO AMCONSUL LEIPZIG AMEMBASSY BELGRADE PASS TO AMEMBASSY PODGORICA AMEMBASSY HELSINKI PASS TO AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG AMEMBASSY ATHENS PASS TO AMCONSUL THESSALONIKI AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PASS TO AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PASS TO AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/11/04 TAGS: PREL PTER SMIG KCRM MARR GR SUBJECT: CITIZENS' PROTECTION MINISTER CHRYSOCHOIDIS AND PM A/S SHAPIRO DISCUSS PIRACY, TERRORISM, AND MIGRATION ATHENS 00001593 001.3 OF 003 CLASSIFIED BY: Daniel V. Speckhard, Ambassador; REASON: 1.4(B),(D) Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) PM A/S Andrew Shapiro stressed U.S. counter-piracy objectives in an October 23 meeting with new Greek Minister of Citizens' Protection Mihalis Chrysochoidis, urging Greece to build on its current counter-piracy actions by signing the New York Declaration on best practices for vessel self-protection and by showing a willingness to prosecute pirates for attacks on Greek-owned or Greek-flagged ships. Chrysochoidis, whose newly re-organized ministry now includes the Coast Guard, expressed an eagerness to learn more and to continue a dialogue on the issue. Chrysochoidis said his most urgent priorities in his new job were to restore the effectiveness and morale of the police, fire services, and other organizations under his ministry, which he said had suffered under the last five years of rule by the New Democracy party (now in opposition). Although Chrysochoidis and the rest of the ruling PASOK party have come under criticism for being too soft on law and order issues, he told Shapiro and the Ambassador that he had clear instructions from Prime Minister Papandreou to show no tolerance for terrorism, anarchist violence, or illegal immigration. He predicted the government would defeat the violent anarchists because public opinion demanded it. End Summary. A Shared Interest in Fighting Piracy -------------- ¶2. (C) A/S Shapiro began the meeting by stressing the growing strategic partnership between Greece and the U.S., and our shared interest in expanding cooperation on global issues like piracy under the new Greek government. Chrysochoidis agreed that piracy was a very important issue, especially because of Greece's huge merchant shipping fleet. Shapiro briefed Chrysochoidis on the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS),where the Greek MFA has been in the lead on an active Greek role. Shapiro urged Greece to sign the New York Declaration and to take advantage of the universal jurisdiction provisions in Greek law to prosecute pirates for attacks on Greek-owned ships, even if the ships might be flying the flag of another country. He also stressed the importance of ship owners not giving in to ransom demands. Chrysochoidis said that as part of his in-brief to the newly expanded ministry, the Coast Guard had outlined piracy issues for him, describing positively both ongoing international cooperation and internal Greek coordination between the MFA, other ministries, and the ship owners. He asked for a copy of the New York Declaration (which post forwarded later on October 23) and expressed his openness to cooperation on all aspects of the issue. Greece: The Gate of Europe -------------- ¶3. (C) Asked by Shapiro about Greece's counterterrorism approach and the possibility that newly arrived minority populations could be targeted for recruitment by terrorist networks, Chrysochoidis said the huge numbers of illegal migrants constituted a tremendous problem for Greece, which was now the "gate of Europe." (Note: These comments echoed those of EU border agency FRONTEX Deputy Executive Director Gil Aria Fernandez, who said publicly during a recent visit to Athens that Greece is "the main entry point for illegal aliens into Europe." End Note.) Chrysochoidis said his message - and Papandreou's - was "zero tolerance" for illegal immigration and a rejection of the belief that Greece is a country without laws. He said there were extensive international smuggling networks taking in huge amounts of money, and the size of the problem was growing. He cited in particular the route from Asia, with people originating from or transiting Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq, then transiting Turkey, Greece, and Italy, en route to destinations in northern Europe. He said he was working urgently to put new operational plans on the table, which would include a focus on preventing illegal migrants from exiting Greece - not just from entering. He expressed regret that Turkey did not ATHENS 00001593 002.2 OF 003 honor its bilateral commitments to readmit illegal migrants. He said he put relatively little hope in FRONTEX, which he suspected was more concerned about human rights aspects of migration than about improving border enforcement. Rebuilding Counterterrorism Capacity -------------- ¶4. (C) The Ambassador asked Chrysochoidis about his dismissal October 22 of national police chief General Tsiatouras, which media reports had claimed was in response to an October 21 incident in which police clashed with demonstrators in the downtown Athens area of Exarchia, and pursued some of them into a bookstore where a number of high-ranking members of the far-left SYRIZA party were attending a book launch. (Note: Several prominent leftists were briefly arrested in the melee, including one who allegedly pulled up the visor on a police officer's helmet. Chrysochoidis later publicly apologized for the arrests. End Note.) Chrysochoidis told Shapiro and the Ambassador that in fact the dismissal was because of the general condition of the police under Tsiatouras. On returning to government after a six-year absence, Chrysochoidis said he had encountered a "new, terrible reality" that the police, fire services, and other institutions had completely "collapsed." He said the new government would "rebuild the security of the country," and he would focus immediately on improving police morale and self-confidence. ¶5. (C) Regarding international terrorism, Chrysochoidis said he suspected Greece was currently a "logistics base," but did not yet have "serious networks" in place. He cited good bilateral cooperation on this issue, and acknowledged that the danger was real. He said there was "some evidence" of terrorism links to Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas, and he noted in particular a possible (but unspecified) role of staff at the Iranian Embassy, though he said the Iranian Ambassador was not involved. He also said there were indications of a link between Iran and the domestic terrorist organization Revolutionary Struggle. ¶6. (C) Chrysochoidis, who was Minister of Public Order when police arrested members of the long-running November 17 terrorist group in 2002, said the current generation of domestic terrorists is more dangerous and more violent than its predecessors, and that it lacks any ideology or respect for human life. He said it was important to investigate these groups urgently, but he noted that the problems inside the police had made intelligence gathering more difficult. Chrysochoidis did not directly answer the Ambassador's question about whether the new government would preserve legislation passed earlier this year to give the police access to expanded investigative techniques, but he said he would move quickly to select and promote the best officers to positions of responsibility. To underscore the seriousness of the threat, Chrysochoidis said he had recently seen information that one anarchist - now in prison - had for a time taken a job at the Alexandros Hotel, very close to the U.S. Embassy. Chrysochoidis said he thought this person took the job to "keep an eye on" the Embassy. ¶7. (C) Chrysochoidis said the new government would show zero tolerance to "anarchists, hooligans, and vandals," noting that their violence and property damage had cost large numbers of jobs. Asked by the Ambassador about the possibility that courts, sympathetic to defendants in these cases, would make his task more difficult, Chrysochoidis stressed that the "zero tolerance" message came not just from him and Papandreou, but from society at large. He said he had talked with the lead prosecutor and would talk with high-level judges. Because "the public is with us," Chrysochoidis thought the government would have the assistance it needed to "finish with the issue of the anarchists" and the damage they have caused in recent years. ATHENS 00001593 003.2 OF 003 TIP and Organized Crime -------------- ¶8. (SBU) The Ambassador noted the importance the U.S. government places on combating trafficking in persons (TIP) and cited the increasing awareness of the issue in Greece. Chrysochoidis responded that TIP would be one of his major priorities, and noted that he had given Deputy Minister Spyros Vougias specific duties to "work hard" on this issue. (Note: We know from other encounters and contacts that Vougias has quickly taken an active role on TIP in his new job. End Note.) Chrysochoidis also shared the "good news" that he had received approval to create a new 100-person department in the police focused on fighting organized crime, TIP, and cyber crime. ¶9. (U) A/S Shapiro cleared this cable. Speckhard