Kalistani Major History

[Doc]

Michelakakis: Baltusian President is CluelessForeign Minister offers scathing criticisms of Kalistan's neighbour following decision to cut ties
Kaliburg, Ananto
June 5th, 4147


Michelakakis had experience as Defence Minister before entering the Foreign Affairs brief under President Machado

In an exclusive interview with the Republic this month, Kalistan's Foreign Affairs Minister Laura Michelakakis reserved some severe criticisms for her Baltusian counterparts. Following a tense period, in which Kalistan appears to have sided with Aldegar and against their traditional ally, the government has proposed to completely eliminate bilateral ties between the two countries. A transcript follows.

(Arjan Bruineberg, reporter): Good evening Ms. Michelakakis. It's an honour to be talking to you, I hope we might have a productive interview. Let's begin with the main foreign policy situation affecting the Republic at the moment, the situation with Baltusia. Minister, do you believe Baltusia and Kalistan will ever be able to maintain an extended period of peaceful and cooperative relations?

(Laura Michelakakis, Foreign Minister): That's not an especially relevant question but to provide an answer: of course. Nonetheless, on this occasion, Baltusia is undoubtedly behaving in an unacceptable manner. Some seem to doubt this fact but I do not, regardless of the circumstance, the forced deportation of an entire ethnic group is a grave abuse of human rights, the likes of which we had hoped Baltusia would not even consider. If we were not to act, in some way, to weaken the Baltusian government's agenda, we would be totally lacking a moral compass. So as much as it is infuriating to find that- once again- Baltusia and Kalistan are at loggerheads, it is the way it must be.

B: In the Baltusian Congress, the President of that nation said that 'Kalistan has taken a rather prejudice approach to all this'. He went on to say he believes Kalistan 'obviously still holds a grudge against us for some reason', are these comments justified?

M: Of course not! The man is absolutely clueless. His position is that Baltusia has not already admitted to an abuse of human rights, that is a fundamentally incorrect position! I have very little time for anybody who wants to simplify matters of this nature down to playground squabbles. You cannot justify the action that Baltusia has taken by saying that the only reason there is outrage on our side is as a result of past disputes. On top of that, the notion that Kalistan is bias towards Aldegar is complete nonsense. In our view, Aldegar is a totalitarian, autocratic state and there is a lot that needs improving before we could consider tightening our relationship with them but that doesn't justify the kind of response initiated by Baltusia.

B: What is the best possible outcome in this scenario, from Kalistan's point of view?

M: Ideally, not just for Kalistan but for Seleya as a whole, Baltusia cancels their plan to deport all Aldegarians immediately and Kalistan is able to maintain our relationship with them. Furthermore, it would be extremely beneficial if the Shah of Aldegar was to renounce his claim to be the 'rightful' ruler of Baltusia. Obviously, that is a complete lie. Everything else is really over reaction from both sides of this conflict, which is a distraction from the real issues we face as a continent.

B: Moving on from Baltusia, Kalistan has recently drafted the Kalistan-Terra Treaty of General Friendship. What are your goals with this particular treaty?

M: It's something we have been planning for a while. Kalistan has quite a number of deals with individual nations, such as Vorona, Istalia or Sekowo, but we don't currently have a general treaty- which any nation can sign up to and engage with us. We had a similar arrangement in the past but that was far more restrictive than the newer version. The ambition with this treaty is that we are able to establish basic relations- by which I mean exchange of ambassadors, non-aggression and such- with as many nations as possible. As a result, we expect to see improved communications Terra-wide and a greater opportunity for further engagement.

B: Last, does the Foreign Ministry have any information about what we can expect to see in the future, in terms of Kalistan's international standing?

M: All I can tell you is that we will continue to reach out to Seleya and beyond to establish strong bonds with other countries. We remain committed to internationalism.