PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis referred to the relations between Greece and Turkey after the elections in the two countries in the coming weeks in most of his interview with the Associated Press, while he spoke about the migration policy of the New Democracy party but also to the risk of economic degradation if main opposition SYRIZA’s economic program was implemented even partly.
Mitsotakis told AP that he would extend a “hand of friendship” to the winner of the elections in Turkey but added that he hopes that the next government in the neighbouring country “will reassess its approach to the West.”
However, he added that despite his willingness to talk to whoever emerges as the winner from Sunday’s polls in Turkey, “I am not naive, I know that the foreign policies of countries do not change from one day to the next.”
“I would like to hope that the next Turkish government will reassess its approach to the West as a whole, not only to Greece, to Europe, to NATO, and to the United States. But again, I have to be realistic and not too naive, and that’s why we will continue our stable foreign policy. This means that we will continue to strengthen our deterrent and defensive capabilities” added Mitsotakis in the interview he gave on Thursday evening to the Associated Press.
As AP notes, the bilateral relations between Greece and Turkey in recent years have been at a low level with Turkish officials, among others, declaring that they could invade Greek islands.
“In response, Greece has embarked on an extensive arms program to modernise its armed forces, including the purchase of advanced French-made fighter jets, ” the article’s author adds.
“I wish I didn’t have to spend much more than 2% of GDP on defence. But unfortunately, we live in a dangerous neighbourhood with a much bigger country than us which also behaves aggressively” says the prime minister on his part.
On the occasion of the rapprochement that took place after the deadly February earthquake in Turkey, Kyriakos Mitsotakis says that “It is a shame, we do not need to wait for a disaster to strike us, nor is it our destiny to live in a state of permanent tension”.
The Greek prime minister is quick to stress, however, that better relations require an end to bellicose rhetoric from Turkey. “If the Turkish government every other day says that ‘it is coming at night’ to invade our islands, obviously this is not very constructive for creating a climate of trust and goodwill.”
The PM also referred to the May 21 elections and reiterated that “I have made it clear that I do not believe in this electoral system (including the simple proportional one). What we need is a stable government, and even better a one-party government.”
On the occasion of today’s visit of the prime minister to Lesvos, the Associated Press pointed out the immigration policy implemented by the New Democracy government and the commitment of Kyriakos Mitsotakis to continue in the event of his re-election.
In fact, responding to complaints about the government’s immigration policy at the border, the prime minister says that “I don’t apologise for it. We reversed the policy of the previous government, which had an open-door policy that ended up allowing more than a million people to cross into Greece in 2015. This is not going to happen again.”
At the end of his interview with the Associated Press and in the context of Greece’s attempt to regain investment status, Kyriakos Mitsotakis comments on the SYRIZA program: “I will be very, very blunt. If SYRIZA tries to implement even a fraction of what it has said, it will lead to a degradation of our economy”.
