Tsipras accuses PM of not using ‘momentum’ to put pressure on Turkey
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis should push for a resolution of continental shelf and exclusive economic zone issues with Turkey through the international court at The Hague, SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras said on Monday.
In an interview to Star Channel on the same day that the Greek and Turkish leaders met on the sidelines of a NATO Leaders Summit meeting, Tsipras accused Mitsotakis of not seeking “to take advantage of the momentum, with Turkey being in a tight spot between economic developments domestically and a change in US leadership.”
The main opposition leader said he had “low expectations of the meeting, even though it is their first private meeting” between the Greek premier and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Asked what he would have done, he replied, “I would essentially not avoid taking big issues and the prospect of resolving our difference on the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone to The Hague, on the basis of international law and clearly set red lines, the red line of the Lausanne Treaty, and the fact nobody can speak of gray zones.”
He added that “the only thing that Mr. Mitsotakis could gain, in my opinion, is a summer moratorium, in order to avoid a repeat of last summer, where [Turkey] ended up conducting research six miles off our islands.” [ANA-MPA]
