Greek Alexis Tsipras gave an interview on a Turkish TV channel during his visit to Turkey.

Mr. Tsipras spoke about the Greek-Turkish relations, while on a more personal note, he told the interviewer about his grandfather who was born in Constantinople and how much the two peoples of Greece and Turkey were similar.

On Thursday evening, a small snippet of the interview was aired on the Turkish network TGRT News. The complete interview is scheduled for broadcast on Sunday.

“Today is a good day for Greek-Turkish relations. I visited Chalki, where I met many Turks who were very friendly to me. I believe this is the message we sent internationally, that we can live together without fear or hatred. I think we need to go ahead with the operation of the Theological School of Chalki, we must take new steps. It is an important step to live together and become a symbol of the close and friendly relations of the Turkish and Greek people.

“I think that in this region we have a common culture, music, sounds, cuisine and flavours. For example, my grandfather was born here in Constantinople. I mean we have many similarities. We have different languages, but we have a common culture. So we have to live peacefully and friendly between ourselves”, the prime minister said.