Greek government spokesman George Petalotis on Wednesday, November 3,  ruled out any connection between international terrorism and the 14 parcel bombs sent from Greece to foreign embassies and targets abroad. "It is our own strong conviction that international terrorism is not involved with all these actions that generate a bad image for the country at a time when we are struggling to show our international partners and worldwide public opinion that Greece is moving on, that it is a country of security and a country of stability," Petalotis underlined.

The spokesman pointed out that analysts in the international media saw no connection between terrorist attacks in Greece, including the latest spate of parcel-bombs, and international terrorist activity or terror groups such as Al Qaeda.
He also pointed to statements by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had ruled out any connection between the booby-trapped parcel sent to her office from Greece and the parcel bombs posted to the U.S. from Yemen, which have been attributed to Al Qaeda.

Petalotis also emphasised the negative repercussions of these were terrorist and criminal actions on the country's image abroad and the fact that they could easily have resulted in victims and damage were it not for the quick reflexes and immediate response of Greek authorities.
"Every such act is absolutely to be condemned. There is not a trace of justification, not from the Greek state and chiefly not from Greek society," Petalotis underlined.

The spokesman also reported on a round of telephone calls made by Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas on Tuesday to embassies and several of his counter-parts whose countries had been targeted by parcel bombs, conveying the sorrow of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou for the disturbance caused.
Petalotis said the ambassadors contacted had expressed satisfaction with the level of cooperation with Greek autho-rities, adding that the government was satisfied with the progress of the investigation by Greek police so far.
"The reaction, reflexes and coordination of the Greek Police, the citizen's protection ministry and foreign ministry were flawless," he said.

Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas also stressed that the barrage of parcel-bombs in Greece since Monday was completely unrelated to international terrorism, and praised the performance and prompt response of the Greek police.
"Apart from these images that, unfortunately, went around the world, we have to look at the essence: that here, Greek authorities and the Greek police really did operate very well, exceptionally I would say. It is, however, a terrorist action here that must be condemned and we condemn it in the most absolute way. What I think we must stress, in a categoric way, is that these actions have no relation with international terrorism," he underlined.

Source: Athens News Agency

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