New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis questioned on Friday the wisdom of the government’s decision to invite Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Greece, saying the country didn’t gain much from the visit.
“Our country didn’t gain anything substantial from this visit. Defending our national interests requires seriousness, preparation, well-thought-out moves,” he said.
He said it wasn’t clear what the reason was for Erdogan’s visit to Greece, what the government expected from the visit and why it should have taken place at this time.
“Yesterday’s visit, the first of a Turkish president in 65 years, should have had an essential objective, a qualitative resetting of bilateral relations. Instead of achieving that goal, what did we all witness yesterday? The Turkish president formulated publically, and on Greek soil, his country’s unilateral claims, far and beyond international law and international treaties that set the framework of good neighbourly relations,” he said.
Mitsotakis said that Greek responses to Erdogan’s claims by President Prokopios Pavlopoulos and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras were “self-evident” but claimed the government was unprepared for the meeting, considering its gravity.
