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Greece is ready to “extend a hand of friendship” to neighboring and regional rival Turkey, Greece’s prime minister said on Thursday, while also accusing the Turkish president of stoking anti-Greek sentiment at home.
Tensions have escalated between the two NATO allies, divided over a range of issues and brought to the brink of war three times in the past half century.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said after a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf: “My hope is that even if it delays, our neighbours will choose the path of detente, lawful and peaceful coexistence. , not to rhetoric, but to act constructively.” Scholz in Athens.
“On my side, they will always find me ready to extend a hand of friendship. We don’t have any room for more sources of unnecessary tension,” Mr Mitsotakis said, adding that differences must be resolved peacefully.
“This is what our people want, this is what the Greek people want, this is what the Turkish people want, this is what the whole of Europe wants.”
The dispute between Greece and Turkey includes the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean sea boundaries affecting energy exploration rights.
Turkey also slammed Greece for maintaining a military presence on the eastern Greek island, saying it violated international treaties.
Greece countered that it faced a direct threat from Turkey, which has a large military presence off the coast of Turkey across the island, and reacted in horror to remarks by Turkish officials suggesting the sovereignty of some inhabited Greek islands could be in dispute.
“NATO partners should not question each other’s sovereignty,” Scholz said at a brief joint news conference after the meeting with Mitsotakis.
“All issues must be resolved through dialogue and on the basis of international law. We very much agree on that.”
Mr Mitsotakis said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “can’t see that he is going to a dead end when he is poisoning his people with lies against Greece, which is really a shame”. Because our neighbors and all our allies know that the Greek islands do not threaten anyone. “
The German chancellor said it was “in the interests of all neighbouring countries” to develop the economic potential of the Mediterranean “in the interests of their respective peoples”. The impression I got in the conversation was that Greece was very willing to do so. We can and should have confidence in that. “
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