The Minister of National Defence, Nikos Dendias, was the keynote speaker at the Crete Defence Conference that was held on Wednesday 13 March 2025 in Heraklion by the Hellenic-American Chamber of Commerce and the AmCham GR Regional Committee in Crete.
The Minister was introduced by Leftheris Avgenakis, Conference Coordinator, Member of the Hellenic Parliament for Heraklion and Chairman of the AmCham GR Regional Committee in Crete.
In his address, the Minister of National Defence stated the following:
“Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to say that it is very important that I am given the opportunity to speak about Crete at this Development Conference in Heraklion.
Talking about Crete’s strategic vision is something in my opinion that is widely known. It is clear. What is a little bit more interesting I believe is looking closer at the geopolitical developments in the wider region, before considering the role that Crete may play in these developments.
Since Crete, of course, has always been a beacon of Hellenism; the first Greek civilization, the Minoan civilization was developed here. And apart from that, Crete contributed richly to Greece’s political and cultural life in the course of centuries.
And of course its enormous value did not escape the notice of great powers throughout the History of Mankind, precisely because of its location, since the days of Ancient Greece and later on, the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Great State of the Serenissima – the Venetian state, and afterwards Great Britain and the Great Powers of that era.
I should like to ask you to look to the horizon a little bit; look where we are today.
Crete is situated right over the point of intersection of North – South axis with the East – West axis; the point of intersection of the geopolitical with the geographical and the energy axis. Each of these separately is of enormous importance.
If we have a look at the wider region, it would be best to head east to the recent major geopolitical change in the wider region and I am referring to Syria. Ladies and Gentlemen, I do not know how many of you have watched the events in Syria. I can assure you they are tremendously important.
We should go back to the 20th century to see what has happened to Syria of today. Syria is a state, established to a great extent by artificial conditions after the end of World War II, “a line in the sand”. Great Britain and France, victorious powers from World War I, divided Iraq from Syria and formed two states. Syria and Lebanon were in France’s sphere of influence, the “Sykes – Picot Agreement” if you have heard of it.
On the basis of this agreement, the Syrian state was established. France withdraws from Syria in 1947 and a series of coups follows. In 1970, during one of such coups, Hafez al-Assad ruled Syria for more than 50 years, always with an iron fist. He dealt with and repressed Sunni uprisings against his rule in Hama. He was succeeded by his second son, who inherited the existing personality cult.
The Assad regime collapses. And what is next? Syria has four main elements and a series of minor ones that form part of it. The Sunni element, the Sunni majority, the Shia element, the Alevi, who supported Assad regime, the Kurdish element, the Druze element and also, the Orthodox, the Armenians and certain other small groups.
What we see right now in Syria is the complete dominance of the Sunni element. Hence, the creation of a potential Sunni arc: Turkey – Syria – Lebanon (Lebanon has always been watching the developments in Syria). And the question raised is whether the existing al-Sharaa regime would be able to include all other elements that make up the current Syrian mosaic or would seek to dominate on its own over the country.
The deadline for the formation of an inclusive government expired on March 1st. That date has been passed, and nothing happened. However, a few days later, two contradictory events occurred: First, acts of violence against the Alevi, etc. in coastal Syria on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and almost at the same time, the announcement of a cooperation with the Kurdish element that is situated mainly in Northeastern Syria.
Syria remains a question. Towards this question, Greece should take a well-defined position. A well-defined position regarding the geopolitical role and the influence of Syria in the future, but since we are talking about here in Crete, Greece should take and indeed takes an absolutely clear position – expressed through a series of notices by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – on the protection of Christian populations in Syria.
I want us to be clear about the fact that Crete is in the real sense, and not in the narrow geographical sense, the closest major part of the Greek territory to Syria. Now, if we look to the south, there is first of all Egypt; an important country and friendly to Greece, but with many issues.
Egypt is a huge country of 100 million people with a rapid population growth. One million new jobs should be available each year for the new generation of Egyptians, which is extremely difficult considering the actual rate of growth. Egypt needs support and assistance.
But directly below Egypt, a chaos begins: the Sudans, the total destabilization of Sub-Saharan Africa, the very odd situation in Tigray in North Ethiopia, in conjunction with Eritrea. And of course, we should not neglect Libya, which is still what the Anglo-Saxons call it a “Failed State”, divided between West and East Libya. And Libya in particular, as you already know, is of enormous importance for Greece.
We should also keep in mind that above Crete – literally above Crete, as if there were no Crete, the memorandum between Turkey and Libya passes through. A memorandum that is totally unacceptable, grounded on a peculiar and ludicrous I’d say legal construct.
And what is that legal construct? That the islands, regardless of their size, such as Crete, Sicily perhaps, have no other right apart from the six-mile territorial sea; they are deprived of the right to their continental shelf and based on this peculiar legal view that expresses part of the Turkish establishment, they are deprived of the right to exclusive economic zone!
In this way, Turkey may steer a course from its continental coast to Libya, ignoring all Greek islands in-between and Crete. Crete, one of the largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea.
Or let me use another clear example. Just imagine us, in Greece, using the coasts of Peloponnesus and the Ionian Sea, agreeing with Spain upon an exclusive zone, dividing the Mediterranean sea and ignoring the existence of Sicily in-between. How serious would that seem?
However, our neighboring country requires that the memorandum between Turkey and Libya is considered as “serious”.
In response to this, in the name of Mitsotakis’ government, I had the opportunity, I had the chance and the honour of concluding another agreement, which is far from it. It is a valid agreement under the International Law, completely based on the applicable provisions of the Convention on the Law of the Sea and the common law on the Law of the Sea and such is the logic of the Agreement. The main tool that allowed such an agreement is Crete of course. By virtue of the Agreement between Greece and Egypt, Greece determines Exclusive Economic Zones in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea in a way that is absolutely serious, absolutely in accordance with the International Law. The interests of both countries and the Hellenism are served ideally. Let alone Greece’s and Egypt’s interests. However, this agreement proves the enormous significance of the existence of Crete for the country.
I would also like to refer to the role that Crete may play for NATO, the USA, the EU. As I say, the United States will not and cannot abandon two bases on the planet. Both of them start with letter “S”. The one is “Souda Bay” – I believe you all do know this, and the other one is “Subic Bay”, which a little bit far from here, in the Philippines. And why is that? Because these are the locations, where even a latest-class “Nimitz class” aircraft carrier with a displacement of over 1000.000 tons may be anchored and repaired.
Therefore, Crete has this unique privilege; the unique privilege of standing on the intersection of energy, geopolitical, geographical and transport routes. And also, Crete has all further possibilities. It has self-sufficiency in production; the potential to feed itself. And that is far from negligible given the times we live in.
Crete has the capacity to maintain on its territory a series of military installations; not only Souda, not only the Firing Range, not only military airfields, which I believe that you all know, but also a series of auxiliary installations that for reasons of confidentiality as I am sure you understand, I am not allowed and I have to reason to refer thereto. Yet, they are absolutely necessary for the country’s Defence; absolutely necessary for overseeing the Aegean Sea, for overseeing the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Besides, let’s not kid ourselves, you know that History is the key. It is like a keyhole; if you look through it, you see the entire reality. With a certain restriction though. You have to try through the past. Germany, in its effort to control Europe, sacrificed here in Crete, in Maleme, the “bloom” of their parachutists. The cemetery over Maleme is a memorial of this event. The sacrifice suffered by the corps of German parachutists is so big that it has never been deployed again in a similar operation. And you are all aware of that. Thousands of dead people! If you walk around the graves, you can read their ages; 18, 19, 20, 21, 22-years old young people who sacrificed themselves in the name of the overweening effort of a paranoid dictator to control Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. And of course, they came across the courage and determination of the Cretan people, because as you also know, the Hellenic Armed Forces were still in mainland Greece, retreating and trying to save themselves. And the British and New Zealand detachments that were on the island were very limited.
In fact, based on the analysis I have read, if General Freyberg did not lose his temper, perhaps the outcome of the battle of Crete might have been different. But the fact remains. The geopolitical value of this goal for the Nazi hegemony in Crete has been demonstrated by the extent of the effort and the extent of the sacrifice.
Now, where do we go from here? I would like to say that in a few days, the Prime Minister Mr. Mitsotakis will present a cutting-edge armament programme to Parliament.
This new armament programme includes a completely different approach from the one we had to date. So far, the country guarded the Aegean Sea with its fleet and its airspace with its aircrafts. What we are going to present in few days, what the Prime Minister will present is a concept of the 21st century. A dome will feature above the country, called the “Achilles’ Shield”.
The “Achilles’ Shield”, inspired by the mythical hero’s five-layered shield, will feature anti-drone, anti-missile, anti-aircraft, anti-ship and anti-submarine layers.
And the Fleet, the large ships of the fleet, our new frigates with strategic weapons, our 4.5 and 5th generation aircrafts also with strategic weapons and new submarines, the new generation of our submarines also with strategic weapons will be released from Greece’s territorial defence. And regardless of the foregoing, they could chose the role of deterrence against any potential threat. In addition, I say again, to the need for territorial defence. The defence of the wider airspace, marine space and submarine space of Greece will take place with state-of-the-art, much cheaper but also much more effective, due to their number, missiles.
And on the other hand, we completely changed the way our Armed Forces are operating and are equipped. A few days ago, the new Soldier’s Uniform was introduced. It is not just the clothing; it has to do with the systems that the Greek Soldier wears on him.
We have changed the Force Structure and the way Forces are arranged in the Greek territory and apart from that, we have opened a window – and at this point, the University of Crete may play a crucial role – to innovation. And what I mean by “innovation”? Greece is a small country in terms of population and we are a small market. However, we have a large human capital, either within Greece or abroad. There is always a Greek scientist at any top University on the planet. This human capital may contribute to what we have started to do. It can offer innovative answers to the questions and requirements of our General Staffs to lever this ecosystem. To put it simply. An Innovation Directorate has been formed, which forwards the problems of the Armed Forces to the newly established Greek Defence Innovation Center (ELKAK). For instance: We have already announced its establishment, so I am not violating any privacy, to counter drones. And yet, drones of a specific origin, but we don’t need to go into that.
ELKAK gets this question and goes to the ecosystem; in other words, to all Greek defence businesses and to Greek scientists who are interested and poses the question to them. It gets the answers, evaluates them, forwards them to the Armed Forces, which in turn test them and if the answer is considered sufficient, then we place an order for the system.
At first, we place an order for only one system; we test it and as soon as it meets all the requirements, we place an order for more ones. There is a brilliant example of this. The “CENTAUR” anti-drone system, the first anti-drone system ever developed in our Country. The “CENTAUR” anti-drone system was ordered, first tested in the Aegean Sea and then in actual warfare conditions in the Red Sea, where it successfully downed two Houthi drones. As we speak, an order has already been placed, so that “CENTAUR” anti-drone systems would be manufactured for all Greek frigates.
The “CENTAUR” anti-drone system is the most sophisticated one on the planet in which our Country is interested. And at the same time, it is cheaper by 50% compared to any other in the global market and levers both the Greek human capital and the Greek inventiveness, which is equally – if not more – important.
Well, through this approach we aim at addressing other problems as well and to the best of my knowledge, there are small businesses here in Crete of outstanding innovation. I am sure that you know more about it than I do; the University of Crete has leveraged capabilities in human capital that will yield excellent results much sooner than expected, in the context of our effort for an innovative defence ecosystem.
Concluding, because I have already overrun my speaking time. We live in a blessed place. A blessed place indeed, with all the possibilities that blessing has to offer to a place. However, you constitute an indispensable strategic part of the Hellenism; an element that enhances the national presence, the national tradition and the national effort. Cretan people have always been present, yet strongly present, to all national efforts. You were present in the Macedonian Struggle at a time when Crete had not yet been united with Greece. Cretan blood was shed during any effort to keep Greece independent and proud.
Now, you have a new great opportunity, taking advantage of your excellent location, your brilliant human capital, your university and state infrastructure: to contribute to the utmost national effort that follows. To the effort so that our Country becomes more powerful, more European and in particular, friendlier and more useful for the new generation of Hellenes.
Thank you very much”.