Erdogan attacks, Mitsotakis responds
Turkish president makes it personal, but Greek PM doesn’t take bait, says meeting unlikely
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan got personal yesterday with Kyriakos Mitsotakis, accusing the Greek prime minister of provoking him, urging him to know his limits and making barely veiled threats of war.
Mitsotakis, given a chance to respond in an interview yesterday evening with Kathimerini Executive Editor Alexis Papachelas on Skai TV, refrained from responding in kind, saying Erdogan’s “rhetorical flourishes” were geared to a domestic audience. Nonetheless, Mitsotakis said, Erdogan’s salvo would adversely affect any chances of a meeting between the two.
Erdogan’s attack took place in a speech to the parliamentary group of his Justice and Development Party (AKP).
“I made a statement that we can meet with Mitsotakis. I made this statement and I saw Mitsotakis is provoking me,” said Erdogan, who had made the statement following the resumption of low-level “exploratory talks” between the two countries.
“Mitsotakis challenged me. How can we sit down with you now? Know your limits first. If you really seek peace, don’t challenge me. Know your limits. If you don’t know your limits, it means you’re the one who kicked the table, who left the table. We did not leave the table. And if you carry on like this, we will not be able to sit at the table,” Erdogan went on.
Erdogan’s phrasing, “know your limits” was a direct reference to a statement made by Meral Aksener, leader of the IYI (Good) Party, who had chided Mitsotakis after the latter, in a visit to Cyprus, repeated Greece’s position of a reunification of the island as a “bicommunal, bizonal” federation. Askener had told Mitsotakis that, even if he couldn’t accept it, the breakaway state in northern Cyprus – recognized only by Turkey – was an independent state and called on him to “learn what your limits are.”
A few days ago, when Mitsotakis visited the eastern Aegean island of Ikaria, Turkish officials expressed their displeasure. Turkey contends that several Greek islands close to its coast should be demilitarized, while it maintains a large army on its coast aimed at them.
Erdogan went a step further, saying Greece could not depend on anyone and that Turkey knew how to act alone. “You will get to know the ‘crazy Turks’ well,” he said.
In his interview, Mitsotakis repeated Greece’s position that it will not discuss with Turkey the demilitarization of its islands or any so-called “gray zones,” where, according to Turkey, sovereignty is disputed.