Vice Admiral Alexandros Diakopoulos, the National Security Adviser to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has tendered his resignation after disagreement and confusion reigned after the comments he made regarding Turkey’s oil and gas exploration vessel the Oruc Reis.
The resignation of the veteran Naval officer was accepted by the Prime Minister.
Diakopoulos issued a statement after his resignation was accepted, which read: “My statement yesterday caused confusion and created a problem for the Prime Minister and the government, which is something that was never my intention.”
“I have served my country for decades and I have always learned to take on my responsibilities. I therefore resign from the post of the Prime Minister’s national security adviser. I will continue to help the country and the government in any way I can, as I have done so far,” Diakopoulos added.
In a Tuesday appearance on Greece’s television station Open TV, Diakopoulos was asked whether the vessel Oruc Reis had actually completed any research in Greece’s territorial waters.
“Yes, but the issue is more complicated,” the Vice Admiral answered. “It has conducted (seismic) surveys, let’s not kid ourselves. But its whole movement shows that this was not its intention, it was not the real reason of the survey,” he told the interviewers.
Diakopoulos later released a statement clarifying what he had meant by the earlier remarks. At that time, he stated that he had meant that the Turkish vessel “tried” to conduct seismic surveys in Greece’s territorial waters but did not go through with it.
The Vice-Admiral joined the Hellenic Navy in 1980.
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