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Volos, Greece (AP) – Greece’s prime minister said he would “extend a hand of friendship” to the winner of the upcoming elections in neighboring and longtime regional rival Turkey, but said the incoming government would “reconsider its approach to Turkey.” ‘West. “
Kyriakos Mitsotakis himself, with elections just over a week away, said he was ready to speak to the winner of Sunday’s poll in Turkey.
“But I’m not naive,” he told the Associated Press in a wide-ranging interview Thursday night while campaigning in central Greece. “We know that the foreign policies of countries do not change from day to day.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ramps up authoritarianismHaving led the country as prime minister and president since 2003, he faces the most difficult elections.. Amid a sluggish economy, Erdogan has lost some ground to his main rival, the secular center-left Kemal Kirikdaroglu.
Although less so than fellow NATO member Greece, Turkey’s relations with the United States and some European countries are strained. Turkey has blocked Sweden’s request to join NATO and pressured the country to crack down on Kurdish militants and other groups it sees as terrorist threats.
“We expect the incoming Turkish government to totally rethink its approach not only to Greece, but to Europe, NATO and the United States to the West,” Mitsotakis said. “But again, I have to be a realist and not be too naive. That’s why we continue to have a solid foreign policy. That means we will continue to strengthen our deterrence and defense capabilities. “
Greece and Turkey have been at odds for decades over issues such as the maritime border in the Mediterranean. But relations between the two countries have plummeted to record lows in recent years, with warships trailing each other and Turkish officials suggesting a possible invasion of Greek islands.
In response, Greece embarked on a massive military procurement program to modernize its armed forces, including the purchase of state-of-the-art French-made fighter jets.
“I wish we never had to spend well over 2% of our GDP on defense. I live in an area that is very difficult,” Mitsusotakis said.
The prime minister said he wanted to cut back on rhetoric further after February’s devastating earthquake in Turkey that killed tens of thousands of people. Similar improvements continued for several years after the 1999 earthquakes in both Turkey and Greece.
“It’s a shame. We don’t have to wait for catastrophe to happen, and we’re not destined to live in a state of perpetual tension,” Mitsotakis said. But he stressed that improving relations would require an end to Turkey’s belligerent rhetoric. “If the Turkish government comes every other day at night and talks about invading our islands, it is obviously not very beneficial in building a climate of trust and goodwill,” he said.
The 55-year-old Harvard-educated Mitsotakis has led the center-right New Democracy Party since 2016 and became prime minister in 2019. He has led his biggest opposition rival, left-wing ex-Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, and his coalition government. He is seeking a second four-year term in the May 21 election, and polls show his party has strong support.
Born into a family of politicians, Mr. Mitsotakis is the son of the late Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis, a heavyweight in politics in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His sister Dora Bakoyanis is a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and his nephew is the current Mayor of Athens.
Changes to Greece’s electoral law make it unlikely that the winner of the vote will get enough votes to form a government without looking for a coalition partner. If no party can form a government, a second round of elections will be held about a month later, with bonus seats awarded to the winning party under electoral law.
“I made it very clear that I don’t believe in this electoral system. What we need… is a stable government, preferably a one-party government,” Mitsotakis said.
During an often grueling election schedule, Mitsotakis toured parts of central Greece on Thursday, speaking in the seaside city of Volos before heading east on Friday to the islands of Lesbos and Rhodes.
For several years, Lesvos was home to the notorious and overcrowded Moria migrant camp, which grew to become Europe’s largest before it burned down in 2020. The island and several others in the eastern Aegean Sea were the flashpoints of a refugee crisis that engulfed hundreds of thousands of people in 2015. Percentage of people arriving from Turkey going to Europe via Greece.
The Mitsotakis government has stepped up its crackdown on immigration, seeking to prevent migrants and asylum seekers from entering by tightening land and sea border security and significantly expanding the fencing along its land border with Turkey. there is
But Greek authorities have been accused by rights groups and migrants themselves of denying migrants asylum claims and carrying out informal and illegal deportations. Greece strongly denies being involved in the practice known as pushback.
Mitsotakis has vowed to keep his policy if elected for a second term. The current border fence is just under 40 kilometers long, but the government plans to extend it by 35 kilometers (22 miles) over the next 12 months. Officials said more than 100 kilometers (160 miles) of the wall would be added by 2026.
“I want to make it clear that I take no apologies for this,” he said. “We reversed the previous government’s open-door policy that ultimately allowed more than one million people to enter Greece in 2015. It will never happen again.”
When Mr. Mitsotakis first came to power, Greece was barely emerging from a decade of brutal financial crisis. The crisis resulted in a loss of access to international bond markets and put the country’s finances under close scrutiny by international creditors in exchange for billions of euros in bailout loans.
Greece has regained market access, but international rating agencies still rate its bonds just below investment grade. Mitsotakis said he expects Greek government bonds to be removed from junk status later this year if re-elected. The Tsipras government often clashed with Greek bailout creditors, who set tight fiscal policies in exchange for emergency funds.
“I’m very frank,” Mitsotakis said. “If SYRIZA tries to carry out even a fraction of what they say,” it will lead to “some downgrading of our economy.”
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Theodora Tongas contributed to this article.
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