Tsipras denies PM briefing about Muslim candidate

SYRIZA – Progressive Alliance President Alexis Tsipras accused New Democracy leader and prime minister at the time Kyriakos Mitsotakis of lying and saying that he informed him before the election about alleged machinations of the Turkish consulate in the region of Rhodope in support of Muslim SYRIZA candidates.

In an interview with CreteTV, Tsipras launched a scathing attack on Mitsotakis and his handling of the issue of the Muslim minority. “Mr Mitsotakis is engaging in exercises of irresponsibility on a sensitive national issue. He is lying that he had informed me about anything during the pre-election period,” he said.

He stressed the seriousness of “lying” and “exploiting” such matters for electoral purposes by “someone who was prime minister for four years and wants to win the elections again and wants to be there in the next few years to manage sensitive national issues.”

Tsipras also cited a recent interview with PASOK’s Evangelos Venizelos, who wondered if the same fuss would have been made “if our Muslim fellow citizens in Thrace had voted for the New Democracy party.”