We are entering the final stretch for the European elections and there is a strong need for mass participation in a process that concerns every Greek man and woman, stressed Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in the dialogue he had in the regular monthly meeting with the President of the Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou.
In his statement, however, he also referred to the conversion of the Chora Monastery into a mosque, saying that he expresses his displeasure with the fact and that he will raise it in the meeting he will have with Tayyip Erdoğan.
“I want to publicly express my strong displeasure by interpreting what I believe are the feelings of all Greeks for the complete need to convert a historic mosque of the country’s monastery into a mosque. I believe an action that insults the rich history of Istanbul itself as a crossroads of cultures and is also an issue that I will certainly bring to the attention of President Erdogan when I meet him,” said the prime minister.
All the positioning of Kyriakos Mitsotakis
“I want to take the opportunity of this meeting to reiterate the need for as massive participation as possible in a very important electoral process that concerns every Greek woman and every Greek man, as what will be decided in Europe will certainly have repercussions within the our homeland.
Our continent is facing very significant political challenges compared to the situation in 2019, the last time we had elections, many clouds shadowing the sky of Europe and we will need to face these challenges with confidence and courage. Whether we are talking about a defense policy in which we must mobilize more European resources, the continuation of a strict policy regarding the need to guard the external borders, the need to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness so that we can compete on equal terms with the USA and China .
All of these are very important issues that I believe concern every Greek woman and every Greek, and that is why I believe that the participation of as many of our fellow citizens as possible in the European elections will ultimately strengthen the same legitimacy of the country to claim more in Europe. I want to wish this pre-election period to be conducted calmly and soberly. I am sorry to see again signs of very strong polarization from other parties in the way the political debate is conducted. I think we should talk more about Europe and stay away from toxicity and divisions but I am not so sure that my wish will be heard.
The second issue I would like to talk about and inform you about is my visit to Ankara which will take place next Monday in return for President Erdogan’s visit last December. And first of all I want to publicly express my strong displeasure by interpreting, I believe, the feelings of all Greeks for the complete need to convert a historic mosque of the country’s monastery into a mosque. I believe an action that offends the rich history of Istanbul itself as a crossroads of cultures and is also an issue that I will certainly bring to the attention of President Erdogan when I meet him. From here on, I believe that it is an opportunity to make an evaluation of the attempt to re-approach between Greece and Turkey, which has certainly shown measurable results on several levels.
We always approach our discussions with Turkey with confidence and no illusions that Turkish positions will not change overnight. I still consider it imperative that when we disagree, the dialogues, the communication path, the communication channels should always be at night and that we can talk honestly and when we disagree, we should disagree without tensions and without it always causing an escalation in the field as we have unfortunately seen in the past four years”.
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