Officials: PM did not discuss Thrace Muslims with Erdogan

Greek officials said Friday that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis never discussed issues that concern Greek citizens or the country’s sovereign rights with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The officials were responding to claims by Erdogan that the “problems of Western Thrace” was the “main issue” he raised with Mitsotakis at their meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius on Wednesday.

The officials said Mitsotakis would never accept to discuss such issues with Erdogan.

But Mitsotakis did raise with Erdogan the involvement of the Turkish consulate in Komotini in the recent Greek elections.

A candidate with left-wing opposition SYRIZA party had said the consulate had favored the election of a Muslim candidate from the same party. The multi-seat constituency of Rodopi, in which Komotini is the main city, was the only one in Greece where SYRIZA came ahead of ruling New Democracy, which also elected an MP, as did the socialist PASOK.