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Multiple messages to Turkey were sent by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in an interview with ERT.
Speaking about the escalating Turkish provocativeness and the personal attacks he himself is receiving from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Prime Minister made it clear that "we will do whatever it takes. And Greeks must feel absolutely secure that the country not only has a strong deterrent capability, which we have taken care over these three years to further strengthen, but also has very strong allies and is part of a framework of countries that understand that borders cannot be violated by force and that disputes between states must be resolved on the sole basis and sole reference point of international law."
Asked whether he would accept to meet with Erdogan again after the famous "Mitsotakis yoke", the Prime Minister replied "of course."
He added: "I believe that by law we will meet at some point and we have to meet and we have to discuss and as I told you - and as I told President Erdogan himself - we have to be able to agree to disagree, but to agree in the framework of resolving our differences. And also, we should understand when our arguments reach the realm of absurdity."
The Prime Minister stressed that "we cannot have a dialogue with absurdity. And Turkey's accusations, as expressed in the latest letters to the UN, are completely absurd to the extent that they raise issues of Greece's sovereignty over the islands."
Referring to the crescendo of provocations from Ankara, Mitsotakis sent a message of calm and sobriety: "I have met Erdogan four times as prime minister. I have seen many fluctuations in Turkish politics. I am quite used to the volatility of Turkish rhetoric."
"I don't want to make an assessment of Turkey's next move. We are facing a war in Ukraine. And an unprecedented reaction from Europe, which has shown unity and imposed tough sanctions on Russia. Consequently, the challenge of our times is how to respond to an expansionist revisionism, which often has references to imperial fantasies of other eras," Mitsotakis stressed, saying. Certainly in no international forum could this theory be even remotely credible."
As for Erdogan's accusations that Mr. Mitsotakis violated what had been agreed in their private meeting last March in Istanbul, the prime minister rejected them and explained that "then followed a crescendo of hyperbole, which violated the red line I had set. As a result, Turkey took the first step of tension in Greek-Turkish relations."
At the same time, he expressed the hope, "at the field level", as he said, "that we will not reach the point we had reached in the summer of 2020", while speaking about the attitude of the opposition, he said: "I would hope that in important national choices, the attitude of the parties would be in line with the national strategy."
Source: in.gr
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