We are a country where unreason and false toughness often prevail.

At a time when our relations with Turkey of the one-man rule of Erdogan are at an exceptionally delicate point, there are those who have taken to provoking, at no cost to themselves, impervious to the consequences of their deeds or words.

The civil protection ministry spoke of an unacceptable act, in referring to the leftist-anarchist group Rouvikonas (Rubicon) throwing paint at the Turkish Consulate in Athens and then walking off to take a bus, unimpeded.

Let us say that the activists did what they considered to be their duty as they perceive it, but where were the competent authorities? Was there not a single person who had the prudence to consider that at this sensitive phase, Turkish diplomatic missions and other venues must be protected from all manner of mindless persons? As usual, the authorities rush after the fact with damage control.

How is it possible for the prime minister one day to issue a plea to Erdogan, at a cabinet meeting, to free the two Greek army officers imprisoned in Turkey, and the next day to have the defence minister playing the role of Greek revolutionary heroes Papaflessas and Karaiskakis, threatening with a new 1821 revolution? Is this the image of a serious government, or is it perhaps more reminiscent of a Greek café?

Foreign policy, and our relations with other countries, friendly or not, are far too serious an affair to be left to be handled by of all types of activists or demagogic politicos, who are only interested in their personal games.

This is what Erdogan and his subordinates on the other side see and pull our leg with pronouncements such as the latest remark that the Greeks are far too few to pay attention to them.

At long last, let the country, the political leadership, and the government should get serious.

We were led to bankruptcy by such behaviours and practices, but it seems we still have not learned our lesson. We have paid enough for the opportunistic games and the cheap stunts of politicos – and will continue to pay for a long time.

We must not pay more, just because certain people have decided to divorce themselves from logic.