Greece will not take the bait, PM tells Ankara
Ankara’s increasingly aggressive posturing is driven by domestic political considerations, but Greece will not rise to the bait, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis indicated on Tuesday, as he prepares to head to the UN General Assembly in New York.
“We choose not to bite,” Mitsotakis said during an interview with Sfera radio, in what is being seen as a message to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is also attending the summit.
“I will be very strict about the limits we set. Everyone knows that you cannot toy with Greece. On the other hand, we need to talk and settle our differences or to talk and agree to disagree without getting into a fight. Do we really need all this tension and poison every single day?” he commented.
Turkey’s aggression, added Mitsotakis, “is certainly also a pre-election game.”
Pointing to the findings of recent public opinion polls in Turkey, the Greek PM said “63% of Turks do not regard Greece as a threat.”
“We are doomed to coexist, but there are more things uniting us than dividing us,” he said.
