April 26, 2024

Athens News

News in English from Greece

Mitsotakis: Greece wants to keep the channel with Turkey open, but how to do it after a quarrel…

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Friday it was important to keep channels of communication open with Turkey despite harsh rhetoric that has heightened tensions between the two neighbors.

Recently, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that Greece should stop arming the islands in the Aegean Sea, which should have a demilitarized status in accordance with international treaties. Greece rejects Turkey’s claims as unfounded.

Mitsotakis, speaking in Cyprus, said that international law is on the side of Greece. “We will put aside any rhetoric that deviates from the rules of good diplomatic practice,” he said during a meeting with Cypriot President Nikos Anastasiades in Nicosia. “I believe this approach is the right one and we will quickly return to calmer waters, always keeping channels of communication open. I believe and have always believed that even in the most difficult times, they should never close,” said Mitsotakis.

The Turkish and Greek defense ministers met on the sidelines of the NATO meeting in Brussels on Thursday and discussed continuing dialogue to ease the recent escalation in tensions, the Turkish Defense Ministry said. Mitsotakis was in Cyprus at a conference of the Democratic Unification of the Island party.

PS I wonder how Mitsotakis imagines communication with Erdogan, who recently stated: “There is no Mitsotakis for me, I will never meet him again”? What could have happened in recent days? Has the United States let him know that Turkey is a very (especially) important NATO member for them?



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