PM: Islands’ sovereignty beyond dispute
The sovereignty of Greece’s islands is not up for discussion, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday, amid recurring Turkish provocations in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Speaking to local media during a visit to the western port city of Patra in the region of Achaia, the conservative leader defended Greece’s status as a “force of stability in the Mediterranean” and criticized Turkey for being “unpredictable, pugnacious and often aggressive.”
“We want honest dialogue on the single substantial issue which is the delineation of maritime zones,” Mitsotakis said.
“No Greek prime minister will ever discuss the sovereignty of our islands. Nor are we going to discuss our armaments program with anyone,” he said.
The visit to the region of Achaia also had the air of an election period, with Mitsotakis noting Greece’s military program, and making extensive reference to the government’s accomplishments while also taking aim at main opposition SYRIZA.
“Citizens feel safe because the government has strengthened the armed forces and shielded [Greece’s] alliances,” he said.
“The citizens will vote for the government and the prime minister and they will compare the four years of SYRIZA with [Alexis] Tsipras and the four years of New Democracy with me. They will judge who can deal with Turkey better, who can bring investments, who can deal with rising prices, who can go ahead with the digitization of the state. They will go to the ballot box and we will bow in reverence to the election result,” he said, while also referring to infrastructure projects in Achaia as the biggest ever in the prefecture.
“Three construction sites and one project are running at a faster pace than we had planned,” the prime minister said, adding that the government is proud of the implementation of its promises.
