Acrimony over Rodopi intensifies
ND, SYRIZA clash over ‘intervention’ of Turkish consulate regarding Thrace’s Muslim minority
The issue of the Turkish consulate’s intervention in the Rodopi constituency of Thrace continued to spark tension on Monday with acrimonious exchanges between New Democracy and SYRIZA.
The leftist party is accused by ND over its lack of reaction to evidence indicating the Turkish consulate’s support to two Muslim SYRIZA candidates during the May 21 elections, while SYRIZA referred to dangerous games with the Muslim minority.
Rodopi was the only constituency in which ND failed to win a majority. The confrontation was further fueled on Monday by SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras’ request to meet acting Prime Minister Ioannis Sarmas on the issue, prompting accusations from ND spokesman Akis Skertsos of “political impropriety” and an attempt “to involve the acting prime minister in the election debate.”
Tsipras warned the issue “could create significant national risks.”
“There is concern about the way the National Intelligence Agency (EYP) is being instrumentalized with targeted information leaked to media friendly to ND to create impressions,” he said.
“Turkey is already rubbing its hands,” he added.
Skertos lambasted SYRIZA during a briefing of political reporters, saying that “Mr Tsipras had been notified in time and duly by EYP, before the announcement of the May elections.”
“He chose to ignore the evidence that was presented to him, which showed clear interference by the Turkish consulate in the Greek elections,” he stressed.
Skertsos noted that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis received as part of the regular information he received from EYP data which showed the involvement of the consulate in Greece’s internal affairs. “And [Mitsotakis] felt that this information should have been received by Mr Tsipras,” he said, bemoaning that the SYRIZA leader “chose not to even listen to the voices from within his own party.”
The ND spokesperson questioned why the two Muslim SYRIZA candidates have not taken a position whether they represent the Muslim or the alleged “Turkish” minority. He also asked if SYRIZA questions the evidence showing the Turkish consulate intervention and if Tsipras denies he received a briefing before the elections that showed SYRIZA candidates being supported by the Turkish consulate.
SYRIZA spokeswoman Popi Tsapanidou accused Skertsos of resurrecting “the divisive toxicity of the post-civil war years,” defending the meeting between Tsipras and the acting prime minister as a “self-evident in any democratic constitution.”
