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INFO EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ATHENS 001593 
 
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/11/04 
TAGS:            
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