Opposition demands response to Erdogan’s ‘unconscionable’ Cyprus claims

Greece’s main opposition party on Tuesday condemned recent comments by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan concerning Cyprus and called for an official response from Athens.

SYRIZA “unequivocally condemns the latest provocative statements by the Turkish president about the Cyprus issue,” the opposition party said in a statement, after Erdogan on Monday stated that “perhaps if we had pushed south… there would be no more south and north and Cyprus would be completely ours.”

“President Erdogan’s unconscionable statements clearly undermine the ‘positive climate’ in Greek-Turkish relations, which the [Kyriakos] Mitsotakis government complacently insists on. Just three months after the signing of the Athens Declaration, Turkey is once more violating its spirit and letter,” SYRIZA’s statement went on to say, referring to a non-binding agreement signed between Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Erdogan in December for improving bilateral ties.

It went on to call on the government to respond to Erdogan’s statement with the “necessary diplomatic actions” which would make it clear that “such unacceptable and inflammatory statements weigh against Greek-Turkish and Euro-Turkish relations.”

SYRIZA went on to accuse Mitsotakis and the government of pursuing an “intransparent” foreign policy that systematically downgrades the Cyprus issue and fails to respond to Turkish provocations.