Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told Christiane Amanpour in an interview on CNN that Greece remained a safe destination for visitors.

Answering a relevant question on the increase in Covid-19 cases in the country, the Prime Minister assured that there will be no new lock-down in Greece. “We did expects an increase, as we opened our economy and opened up to tourism. We need to point out that Greece retains a very aggressive but also smart testing regime for people who come to Greece.

He went on to underline that Greek authorities have implemented some additional measures, the basic measures as he pointed out, as there were increased clusters concentrated in public gathering, entertainment venues and night clubs. “Greece is still a very safe destinations for people to come and visit”, he said.

Regarding the Greek-Turkish crisis the PM said that this government since coming to power had experienced an increased level of Turkish provocations on various fronts, highlighting the disagreement over maritime boundaries. Mr. Mitsotakis said Greece had invited Turkey to sit down and talk ‘like civilized neighbours’ and if there could be no common grounds of understanding, then they could appeal to the International Court of Justice.

He clarified, however, that Greece could not tolerate unilateral activity by Turkey in the Greek exclusive economic zone and the deployment of not only research vessels, but also of warships in it. He went on to warn that this behaviour risked increasing tensions and a possible accident.

“Last week there was an incident with the collision of two ships.”, he said, while adding that although Greece was not seeking escalation it would defend its sovereign rights.

“I do not think it is just a disagreement between two neighboring countries. I believe that it is a challenge for Europe, a challenge for the whole world. That’s why you see the French Navy at area. That is why you see the EU supporting both Greece and Cyprus by denouncing Turkey’s unilateral actions.”And that is why you see the United States sending a very clear message that the only way to resolve these disputes is through the application of international law,” said Kyriakos Mitsotakis.