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ATHENS, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday that he still believes that Greece’s differences with Turkey can be resolved through dialogue with the Turkish president, stressing that the two neighbors will not go to war.
Relations between the two NATO allies and historical regional rivals have been particularly tense for nearly three years, and the rhetoric from Turkish officials has been worrisome.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said that Turkish forces could attack Greece “out of the blue one night”, even threatening to hit Athens with ballistic missiles.
“We will not go to war with Turkey,” Mitsotakis told a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday.
“As reasonable adults, we should be able to sit down with Turkey and resolve our main differences, namely the delimitation of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean seas.”
Mitsotakis noted that although it was a “complex issue due to the geographic location of the Aegean”, Greece had managed to resolve similar differences with Italy and Egypt and was considering bringing a similar dispute with Albania to The Hague International Court of Justice.
“As long as you agree on the script, which is what the script is, you’ll solve your problems according to international law … you won’t unnecessarily irritate your neighbors, and you’ll keep the lines of communication open,” Mitsotaki said. S said.
“And I don’t think it helps to weaponize foreign policy for domestic reasons either. That’s generally not a good approach because you end up poisoning your public opinion.”
Both he and Erdogan face elections in the first half of this year.
“I don’t know which government will emerge in Turkey, but I certainly think there are ways to ease tensions and address issues of mutual concern, agree or disagree,” the Greek prime minister said. “But even if we agree to disagree, we can do so in a civilized way.”
He said that while there were “very, very difficult moments” with the Turkish president, “I don’t think it’s impossible to find a solution with President Erdogan.”
Greece and Turkey have come to the brink of war three times in the past half century due to long-standing differences over a series of issues including territory and energy exploration rights in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Recent tensions have centered on energy exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean and the presence of Greek troops on islands in the eastern Aegean Sea off the coast of Turkey.
Turkey maintains that a military presence on the islands is a direct threat prohibited by international treaties.
Greece has countered that the treaty allows for a limited military presence, noting that Turkey maintains a sizeable military presence on the Turkish mainland across the Greek island.
“I ask, is it reasonable for someone to think that the Greek islands are a threat to the Turkish mainland, or is it more realistic to think that the Turkish mainland is a threat to the Greek islands?” Mitsotakis said.
He noted that Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974 and the island has been ethnically divided since then, with only Turkey recognizing the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the northern third of the island. The Turkish invasion followed a coup aimed at aligning the island with Greece. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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