Greek citizens live their daily grim reality and at the same time sense that they are surrounded by a worryingly gray and unstable external environment. What the political system (and especially those in power) has failed to realize is the ease with which the color gray can be transformed into lead as a prelude to a storm.

CURRENT STATUS

Europe is plagued by a lack of a unified strategy, economic and energy problems, “Brexit”, the relative lack of cohesion and solidarity, centrifugal tendencies and the rise of far-right parties and, above all, the migration problem combined with Islam, terrorism and low birth rates. European instability is exacerbated by the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the tension in NATO-Russia relations.
In the Middle East, fierce conflicts (centered on Syria) to shape tomorrow's map of the region continue under the responsibility of Great Powers, as well as regional and local powers characterized by a variety of nations, tribes, religions and religious doctrines. This situation is causing massive waves of Muslim immigrants who are added to the already existing large swells (mainly Muslim again) of millions of immigrants from other parts of Asia and Africa, mainly heading for Europe.
After the recent coup and despite Erdogan's apparent omnipotence, Turkey is gradually breaking with the West, while increasingly Islamizing. The unprecedented persecutions and arrests after the coup, the violation of fundamental democratic principles (press, justice, elimination of the secular state, etc.), the trivialization of the Armed Forces and the always open great Kurdish issue (in combination with Kurdish developments in Iraq and Syria), are transforming Turkey into an unstable and unpredictable country.
In addition to the irredentist ambitions of Albania and Skopje towards Greece, the Western Balkans are characterized by widespread corruption that even reaches the political leadership, resulting in the flourishing of the entire spectrum of criminal offenses (smuggling, prostitution, drugs, weapons, etc.), while at the same time there are centers for the incubation, maintenance and recruitment of extremist Islam.
The above international developments with their ominous prospects, find Greece weak and unprepared in almost all areas. The threats and challenges to the National Vital Interests are many but by far the first in priority is the combination of "demographics - immigration - Islam" since it threatens the National Survival Interests.
At this moment, our country, with its northern borders closed, hosts more than 65.000 immigrants, almost all of them Muslims (as is known, the already existing foreign Muslims in our country are much more), while the process of proportional distribution of them in the EU is simply a theoretical, unworkable wish.
The viability of the recent EU-Turkey agreement is considered weak and precarious given that Erdogan is engaging in oriental blackmail of the EU (financial aid, visa liberalization for Turkish citizens and accession negotiations), while the European states with their borders now closed and secured are threatening Turkey from a safe distance for the consequences of its undemocratic choices and practices. The only loser in the event of the agreement being dissolved will be our country, which will suddenly find itself with hundreds of thousands of trapped Muslim immigrants, without substantial European solidarity. Such a development would not only threaten the economic, social and cultural structures of the state but would, without exaggeration, lay the foundations of our existence as a nation in tatters for many reasons, the analysis of which requires a separate article.

NECESSITY OF NATIONAL PROTECTION

In the face of the above developments, the Government should have sounded a national alarm, convened the council of political leaders, called special sessions in Parliament to take measures and informed public opinion accordingly. The Government should mainly have exercised systematic and effective diplomacy in every direction (e.g. EU, UN, NATO, neighboring countries, etc.) with very specific proposals (instead of passively waiting for the European PLAN B) which would force international organizations and mainly European partners to take a position instead of evading by simply providing meager financial assistance to the "humanitarian" and "progressive" Greece which, at the expense of Greek citizens (born and unborn), will undertake to host whatever arrives from the east (and often from the south).
Our national positions, proposals and reactions must be radical, realistic, non-obsessive and proportionate to the major threat the country faces. So far, the only perceived reactions from the government are verbal expressions of concern and calls on the EU to find a PLAN B in case the agreement collapses.

PROPOSED MEASURES & SUGGESTIONS

Given the fact that:

• European states, in relation to Greece, have already taken much stricter measures (without falling behind us in democratic and humanitarian concepts), which act as a disincentive to immigration, despite the fact that they are less at risk from it.
• Some European states claim that Greece is unable to guard its maritime borders, putting Europe at risk.
• European institutions and competent bodies do not deny (at least verbally) that the Greek borders are also European.
• The percentages of real refugees are estimated to be very low in relation to the total number of illegally entering immigrants (among whom no one assures that there are no extremist Islamists).
• Our fellow citizens of the islands of the Eastern Aegean are suffering from the economic and social impacts of the continuous and endless disembarkation and stay of thousands of Muslim illegal immigrants on their islands.
• Throughout Greece, the presence of tens of thousands of illegal immigrants, whom it appears that our country will host for a long time, if not forever, is causing a series of significant anomalies in sectors such as the economy, security and culture.
• The European experience teaches that Muslim immigrants not only do not assimilate and do not integrate into the cultural and social structures of the secular Western countries that host them (despite the existing relevant programs), but many of them (even those born in Europe) are recruited by extremist Islam and participate in Islamic "jihad" wars, as well as in terrorist actions, while the remaining "moderate" Muslims never denounce them (many even applaud the "work" of the extremists) and constitute the potential recruitment pool for Islamofascists.
• Greece, as a Western secular democratic state, must not allow (within the purported framework of human rights and religious freedom) any act and behavior that calls into question fundamental provisions of the Constitution (e.g. freedom of thought and speech, gender equality, etc.) or threatens Democracy and the secular state or opposes the Greeks' perception of culture, good morals and customs.
• The birth rate of Muslim immigrants is much higher than that of Greek citizens, endangering the population ratio of the Greek nation in the near future.
• Turkey (and other Muslim states, as well as extremist Islamic organizations) are manipulating (or may do so en masse in the future) "moderate" Muslim immigrants, through religion (anti-Western hate speech in places of worship, incitement to anti-national acts, recruitment into terrorist extremist Islam, etc.), it is considered that a series of preventive and repressive disincentives regarding illegal immigration should be immediately created and established.

In this context, it is proposed to examine the feasibility of taking the following measures:

• Revision through a legislative framework of the criteria for granting asylum, the conditions for its withdrawal, as well as the creation of a mechanism for continuous monitoring of the creation of these conditions.
• Simplification of the conditions and procedures for the deportation of immigrants, reduction of obstacles to deportation and tightening of procedures for the reunification of immigrant families.
• Revision of the law on acquisition of Greek citizenship (adoption of the stricter laws that already exist in EU states).
• Adoption or tightening of a series of laws and measures (e.g. fines, criminal offenses, deportations), related to clothing (e.g. burqa, kelebies), behavior (e.g. harassment of women, dissolution of marriages with minors), proselytism, hate speech and threats and provocations in places of worship, public spaces, etc.
• The relevant national legal framework as a whole should be shaped in a way that ensures not the balance or offset of political, social and cultural perceptions of Greek citizens and immigrants of all kinds (non-creation of cultural enclaves) but the adaptation of the latter to the perceptions and behaviors of the host country, under threat of deportation.
• Given that there is no permanent Muslim Greek minority, based on Treaties, other than that in Thrace (for which there are about 300 mosques), no new mosques should be built throughout the rest of the territory. Instead, there should be a temporary granting of operating permits for specific places of worship and under strict conditions of supervision. In any case, the ban on the construction of minarets should be legally enshrined (they offend and alter the cultural and historical sensitivity, aesthetics and perception of Greek society and have political content for Islam). In the same spirit, it is possible to find suitable places for the establishment of certain Muslim cemeteries.
• Increasing security measures for citizens through a series of organizational and administrative measures inside and outside the country (e.g. close cooperation with competent Western security services, monitoring of activities dangerous to National Interests such as those on the internet, monitoring of the discourse developed in places of worship and in Muslim religious schools, prevention and dismantling of centers of Islamic radicalization, monitoring and bringing in suspects, unannounced checks, etc.).
• Examination of cases and methods of assistance by the Armed Forces to the Security Forces, in special situations (e.g. mass attacks against the population such as the recent ones in European capitals), with corresponding organization and training of special departments of the Security Forces and creation of a corresponding legislative framework.
• Complete control, recording and image of immigrants entering and leaving the country.
• NATO ships should continue to monitor the Eastern Aegean region on a regular basis and record daily reality.
• The EU states (through the European institutions) should be called upon to undertake the deterrent guarding of the European borders of the Eastern Aegean (through a joint European coast guard), along their entire length (including the Dodecanese), in order to show Turkey in practice that Europe is not being blackmailed. This act, in addition to the EU's self-protection, will constitute the minimum sign of solidarity towards Greece, whose northern borders are closed (under European responsibility).
• In the above deterrent guarding of the Eastern Aegean, the Greek Coast Guard will play a central role. The European states not participating in the guarding of the European borders of the Eastern Aegean with means and personnel, should pay corresponding amounts of money to Greece for the exclusive strengthening of the capabilities of the Coast Guard.
• The tightening of controls at the country's borders must also provide for the existence of appropriate areas of forced temporary "restriction" for the purpose of identification, separation and health control and subsequent treatment of illegal entrants on a case-by-case basis.
• Greece should allocate one or two suitable uninhabited islands (in terms of location, area, terrain morphology, etc.), preferably those unilaterally claimed by Turkey (for favorable reasons), in order to transfer all illegally entering immigrants there. With European funding, presence, surveillance, management and security on the island (or islands), the appropriate (quantitative and qualitative) facilities and infrastructure for the reception, stay and control of immigrants should be created, in order to carry out on it (them), all the necessary processes of registration, distribution to states and/or return of immigrants.
• The relentless prosecution and neutralization of migrant smugglers should be legalized by International Organizations, while states that tolerate them within their territory and do not take appropriate action against them should be subject to sanctions.
• A systematic European campaign should be undertaken to inform potential immigrants (from the east or the south) who may wish to enter illegally, in the places where they are located, of the conditions and procedures they will encounter after their illegal entry onto European territory.
• European states should agree on the method of selecting and distributing refugees among them, as well as the implications for states that do not accept refugees.
• To develop medium- and long-term European aid and investment programs in selected countries of origin of migrants in order to enable these populations to remain in their homelands. A strict condition for the provision of European funds to countries of origin and transit of migrants should be the acceptance of readmission agreements and their effective implementation.
• To intensify efforts to reach an agreement between the parties involved to eliminate hotbeds of conflict and instability in the wider region (e.g. Syria, Libya, etc.).
• Greece should take the lead in promoting peace and providing support to "problematic" states, while at the same time emphasizing and maintaining at every level its cultural relations with the Arab world, in an effort to project Greek "soft power" and its friendly intentions.

It is possible that for some of our fellow citizens, the above proposed measures may be judged as harsh and for others as not diplomatically acceptable, due to the normal relations that our country maintains with Muslim states. The following thoughts are expressed to these fellow citizens:

• The phenomenon of mass migration of millions of Asians and Africans is expected to continue (regardless of the civil war in Syria), due to high birth rates in these continents, climate change, as well as the difference in living standards with the West. Our country constitutes the western front and is particularly exposed geographically to the migration phenomenon. The cynical dilemma that emerges and requires clear answers is whether the Greek governments intend to safeguard the security and well-being of Greek citizens and, more importantly, the very survival of the Greek nation, or whether, within the framework of internationalist ideals, they intend to replace the Greek population (given the acute low birth rate), with a new "Greek" population of Asian and African origin, inspired by the majority by opposing political, social and cultural perceptions. In any case, Greek citizens elect their leadership in order to pursue the fulfillment of Greek National Interests and not to cure, to the detriment of Greek citizens, planetary distortions and injustices.
• Of the Muslim states with which our country maintains relations, some observe Islamic law on their territory without being concerned with Western sensitivities and reciprocity (e.g. S. Arabia, Iran, etc.), while others (e.g. Egypt, Syria, Jordan, etc.) allow to a certain extent the different expression of worship and behavior in minorities. What is noteworthy is that even in these states, non-Muslim minorities are shrinking and, moreover, the Muslim majority has never been in danger of mass blind attacks by other religious minorities. Finally, the Patriarchates and Christian churches within Arab countries were not founded yesterday but even before the emergence of Islam. Consequently, an honest response to the otherwise respected Arab states would be that the above proposed measures are necessary components of self-defense for national survival and that a review of them will become possible when the phenomenon of one or more Muslims behind almost every terrorist attack in the West, with hecatombs of innocent victims, ceases, regardless of motivations (religious, political, cultural, social, psychological, economic, emotional, vengeful, existential, etc.).
• Finally, the above proposed measures do not contradict international treaties and conventions that our country has accepted, but set stricter conditions (which are already applied in other states) and seek international cooperation, for the benefit of Greece and the EU, calling on those involved to assume their responsibilities.

16– August – 2016
Vice Admiral (retd) V. Martzoukos PN
Honorary Commander of the Hellenic Navy
President of EL.I.S.M.E.