A verbal incident between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Recep Tayyip Erdogan took place at the leaders’ dinner at the informal Summit in Prague.
According to Greek government sources, Tayyip Erdogan took the floor at the leaders’ dinner and at the end of his speech he accused Greece of raising the tensions and provoking.
According to the same sources, Kyriakos Mitsotakis took the floor immediately and answered him directly that he should stop questioning the sovereignty of the islands. He further told him that instead of creating tension, he should come to dialogue without tension and extreme rhetoric, as responsible leaders do.
Also, Erdogan, speaking to Turkish journalists, said that many countries, at the Prague Summit, said they were waiting for a step from Turkey to restart the dialogue with Greece. “There is nothing to discuss with Greece”, he replied, however.
Erdogan, after EPC meeting, on Greek provocations:
– I delivered speech during meeting, Greek counterpart was uneasy with it
– He said we’re using harsh language although we did not
– Now, we’ve nothing to talk about with Greece, they’re expecting other countries to get involved pic.twitter.com/s1yI78jAFO— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) October 6, 2022
Earlier, Emmanuel Macron expressed concern about the developments in the south-eastern Mediterranean to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to Elysee sources, during the meeting they had on the sidelines of the Synod in Prague.
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The French president stressed that the two parties (Greece and Turkey) should return to the dialogue table, while reports indicate that he asked Erdogan to sit down together with Mr. Mitsotakis at the Synod table.
He also reportedly called on him to respect international law and human rights, reminding him also how important the sanctions are to Russia.
Upon arrival, at the Synod, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis did not “break the ice” with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A characteristic of the “frozen” climate is that even in the family photo of the informal Synod of Prague, the distance between them was great. Mr. Mitsotakis was close to British Prime Minister Liz Truss and away from Erdogan, while the Turkish president stood center right and four seats next to the president of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades.
The two leaders did not even exchange a glance, although at one point the Turkish president passed in front of the Greek prime minister.
