SYRIZA urges government to condemn Turkey’s violation of Prespa deal
The leftist SYRIZA opposition has urged the conservative government to condemn Turkey’s violation of the Prespa Agreement between Greece and North Macedonia.
During a visit to Skopje on Thursday for talks with his North Macedonian counterpart, Timcho Mutsunski, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan referred to the country as “Macedonia,” breaching the 2018 name accord.
In a statement on Friday, SYRIZA condemned Ankara’s “provocative” behavior and called on the Greek government “to stop downplaying Turkish provocations and, finally, respond forcefully.”
SYRIZA, which was in power when the Prespa Agreement was signed, also criticized New Democracy’s alleged ambivalence toward the deal, arguing that it was undermining its implementation and harming Greece’s national interests.
“The provocative stance of Turkey is not accidental. It is a result of the political choices made by the right-wing Mitsotakis administration, which has consistently pursued an opaque foreign policy, damaging our national interests,” SYRIZA stated.
“For years, the government has avoided active engagement with the agreement to maintain internal party balances, thereby squandering the valuable diplomatic capital that SYRIZA painstakingly built,” the statement added.
SYRIZA called on Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis “to stop the petty political and opaque exploitation of our national interests, as he has done with both Greek-Turkish relations and the Prespa Agreement… [and]… take the necessary diplomatic actions to ensure Turkey finally complies with international law and reality.”
When in opposition, New Democracy strongly opposed the Prespa Accord but pledged to respect it after coming to power in 2019. However, Athens has yet to ratify several cooperation memorandums included in the agreement, citing Skopje’s incomplete compliance with the deal.
During his visit, Fidan expressed Turkey’s intention to double its trade with North Macedonia to $2 billion annually and establish a “strategic council for cooperation” to facilitate this growth. Turkey is currently North Macedonia’s seventh-largest trading partner.
