Tsipras: SYRIZA does not keep anyone against their will
SYRIZA has decided against booting MP Petros Tatsopoulos out of the party after his controversial comments about the leftist party’s stance on terrorism, it emerged Friday.
“SYRIZA never throws anyone out of the party, but nor we keep anyone against their will,” opposition leader Alexis Tsipras said after a party meeting on the issue.
An official statement was expected later on Friday.
Speaking to Skai television on Wednesday, Tatsopoulos suggested that members of his party were sympathetic to the disbanded November 17 urban guerrilla group. A convicted member of the organization, Christodoulos Xeros, is currently sought by authorities after violating a prison furlough on New Year’s eve.
“There are people within SYRIZA who may be sympathetic to the ideas of these people. I assume that because of their own statements, that they considered Xeros a political prisoner. But this is by no means the dominant view within SYRIZA,” Tatsopoulos said.
Tatsopoulos has come under fire from members of his own party, while ruling New Democracy, which has in the past attacked SYRIZA of fostering ties to domestic terrorism, said the comments amounted to a “public confession.”
In a posting on Facebook late Thursday, Tatsopoulos said he had offered his resignation to Tsipras.
