Nikolaos "Nikos" Dendias (Greek: Νικόλαος Δένδιας; born 7 October 1959) is a Greek lawyer and politician of the conservative New Democracy party who has been serving as Minister for National Defence in the government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis since 2023.
[3] His agency was the subject of criticism over refusing asylum to Syrian refugees and detaining other migrants that flock to its borders under "unacceptable" conditions.
Furthermore, about Turkey's plans for the creation of a safe zone in Northern Syria for the Syrian refugees to be resettled, at the expense of the local Kurdish population he stated that it "is illegal since the resettlement of immigrants must comply with some basic principles: to be voluntary and dignified.
Dendias said that "Turkey is the only (party) responsible for the escalation of tension in the eastern Mediterranean, and it must immediately leave the Greek continental shelf.
He was received by his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, and the two foreign ministers toured an operations centre coordinating rescue efforts in Antakya, observed the devastation to the city from the air, and visited a camp where international rescue teams are based.