Deputy governor retracts ‘dead Turk’ comment
The ruling SYRIZA party has called for the resignation of the deputy regional governor of Chios island, in the eastern Aegean, for anti-Turkish comments he posted on social media on Thursday.
In his post, Stamatis Karmantzis, who is also a member of opposition New Democracy, wrote that he agreed with a slogan used by “our commandos that a good Turk is a dead Turk,” adding that Turkey is “a wretched, greedy and uncivilized neighbor dripping in blood, always devious and dangerous, always ready to strike and seize without mercy.”
His comments, which followed a recent spate of Turkish air space violations in the eastern and central Aegean, drew a storm of protest.
“We see his resignation as a given after his nationalist rant,” SYRIZA said in a statement, and called on conservative leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis to “clearly denounce these views and to expel extreme-right elements from the party.”
Karmantzis later sought to “clarify” what he meant in his post, by saying he had nothing against the Turkish people and that his comments targeted the “deep Turkish military state.”
“Greek and Turks alike have nothing to do with the games played by Turkish diplomacy and the Turkish military.”
