Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) chair Devlet Bahceli, who is a strong supporter of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said that it would be easy for Turks to reach the opposite coast of the Aegean on Sunday (local time).
“The government of Greece must stop…constantly poking us…Greece wants the whole world to condemn Turkey,” Bahceli stated during his address.
“The Greek government is playing with fire when it claims that after Ukraine there is the danger of another war. The islands, on which it sits unlawfully and unfairly, are our right. They should not provoke us. They should not test our patience. If they want to be driven to the sea once again, let them tell us and we will throw them all, God willing. For us, it is nothing to get from our coast to the opposite Aegean coast.”
The Associated Press, asked Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during Sunday’s press conference at the Thessaloniki International Fair, whether he believes that the diplomatic aggression led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, could be the prelude to an armed conflict.
“I don’t believe this will ever happen. And if, God forbid, it happened, Turkey would receive an absolutely devastating response, and I think they know it very well,” Mr Mitsotakis told AP.
“Turkey knows the competence of the Greek (armed) forces, and the level of their readiness, very well.”
The Greek PM stressed that he remains open to a meeting with Mr Erdogan and stated that “I would not force a meeting upon Erdogan but I am always open to meeting”, pointing to Prague as a potential location.
Mr Mitsotakis pointed out that he believes that there has been a gradual shift in attitudes towards Turkey on both sides of the Atlantic due to the neo-expansionist rhetoric adopted by Ankara.
“I would like to establish friendly relations between Greece and Turkey, one that can look beyond the past and towards the future,” he added.
