Ex-minister Pangalos makes controversial comment about Turks
Former Greek foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos has sparked controversy after using the phrase “the only good Turk is a dead Turk” in a radio interview on Tuesday.
Speaking to Skai radio, Pangalos argued that Greece faced a “huge” problem with Turkey. “The enemy is relentless and will not be overcome, regardless of how much good faith we show,” he said.
“The only good Turk is a dead Turk. I believe this because I have not come across a good Turk. They lack basic appreciation. The Turk does not have a sense for justice.”
Pangalos, who served as foreign minister between 1996 and 1999, is known for making controversial comments.
In the 1990s, he claimed Germany was “a giant with bestial force and a child's brain” and accused Turkey of “dragging its bloodied boots across the carpets of Europe.”
He sparked a backlash in 2010, when he claimed that there was shared responsibility between politicians and citizens for the Greek crisis. “We ate it [the money] all together,” he said at the time.
In 2013, he claimed Greece had been eavesdropping on US ambassadors in Athens and Ankara in the late 1990s.
In 2014, Pangalos said he did not like looking at the face of SYRIZA’s candidate for Athens governor, Rena Dourou, on posters. He suggested that he would prefer to see a full-body picture of her in a bikini instead.
