Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had a brief meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in The Hague earlier today.

“Our country is not defined by others. I will not comment on the meeting between Trump and Erdoğan after yesterday’s dinner. I had the opportunity for a short conversation – earlier today – with Erdoğan, as usually happens. We addressed the necessary issues and are awaiting the arrangement of a convenient date for the High-Level Cooperation Council. I insist, I think it is a mistake at such important summits to focus only on Greek-Turkish issues,” said the Prime Minister in response to a related question.

According to sources, the meeting lasted about ten minutes.

Turkey-Libya memorandum “unacceptable and baseless”

Regarding developments in Libya, Mr. Mitsotakis stated that “for Greece, the Libya issue has two aspects. The first relates to the unacceptable, illegal, and baseless Turkey-Libya Memorandum,” adding that “Greece will request — and I believe will succeed — to have the exact same wording included in the conclusions as we did in December 2019. That this memorandum is illegal, not recognized by the European Union, and therefore cannot produce any legal effect. It is important that this message is clearly reiterated to Libya.”

On migration flows

On migration flows, especially from Libya, he said: “The second issue has to do with the increased refugee flows, particularly from western Libya, which is not just a concern. Specific measures are required, and we are already taking them. We raised the issue at the Council, I contacted Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday, and I’m pleased that in the letter she always sends to the Council, she included Libya as a topic for discussion. We want to cooperate with the Libyan authorities to reduce, if possible, these flows to zero. Greece will use every tool at its disposal to make life extremely difficult for traffickers who want to bring desperate people to Crete. That is why we are deploying Navy vessels outside Libya’s territorial waters to send a clear message to these traffickers that Greece is not an open gate. The wolf should not rejoice in the chaos just because there is unrest in the region.”

“We must cooperate with the Libyan authorities so that these boats, these decrepit fishing vessels, don’t even leave Libya’s shores — or if they do, that they are returned while still within Libyan territorial waters,” the Prime Minister added.

On Donald Trump’s NATO Article 5 remarks

Regarding Donald Trump’s comments on Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty, the Prime Minister said: “I heard the American president express full commitment to the core of the Alliance. Article 5 still stands — it is the foundation on which the Alliance is built. Trump was right to pressure other countries to spend more on defense — Greece had already met its obligations. The American president should feel satisfied with the outcome.”