Agencies and A News
WORLD Published September 11,2022
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Greek Prime Minister
Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Sunday that he remains open to communication with Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan despite a wide-ranging dispute about territory and resources.
"I am always ready to meet with the Turkish president," Mitsotakis said at a press conference in
Thessaloniki on Sunday, adding that he hoped for talks at the first meeting of the
European Political Community in Prague in early October.
The heads of state and government of 44 countries are to be invited.
Relations between the two neighbouring countries and fellow
NATO members have deteriorated in recent weeks.
Ankara accuses Athens of illegally militarizing
Greek islands in the East Aegean and questions
Greece's sovereignty over them. There is also a dispute over the exploitation of mineral resources in the Aegean.
In May, Erdoğan cut ties with Mitsotakis and declared all other channels of
communication between the countries closed.
Despite the escalation, Mitsotakis "cannot imagine a war between
Greece and
Türkiye," he said at Sunday's press conference.
Erdoğan has repeatedly accused
NATO ally Greece of "occupying"
Aegean islands.
This week,
Athens formally complained to the EU, NATO and the UN after Erdoğan warned in a speech: "We have one thing to say to
Greece:
Remember Izmir."
It was a reference to the 1922 fall of the western city of
Izmir in Türkiye.
