Greece will not go to war with Turkey, Mitsotakis says

Greece will not go to war with Turkey, Mitsotakis says
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Greek Premier said there are civilized ways to lower the tensions

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said his country will not go to war with Turkey.

Mitsotakis expressed optimism that the tensions between the neigboring Greece and Turkey would be eased following the elections in both countries which will be held almost simultaneously in the upcoming months.

“Athens and Ankara will be able to resolve their differences by keeping the channels of communication open and avoiding the instrumentalization of foreign policy for internal reasons,” he said during an event on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Greek Reporter said on Wednesday.

The tensions between Turkey and Greece who have long been at odds over a string of issues, have build up lately over territorial claims in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean and the status of the Aegean islands. Turkey blames Greece for militarising its eastern Aegean islands in violation of international treaties. Turkish President Erdogan last month threatened Athens with a missile strike unless it stays “calm”.

“We should be able to sit down with Turkey as reasonable adults and discuss the issue of the continental shelf and sea zones in the Aegean,” Mitsotakis said.

“There are ways to lower tensions, to agree that we disagree, but in a civilized way,” he said.

“We don’t need to threaten each other or have overflights.”

According to Mitsotakis, Greece has a “difficult neighbor”.

Stating why Greece invested in modernizing its armed forces, Mitsotakis said “Does anyone really believe that the Greek islands are a threat to the Turkish mainland or rather the Turkish mainland threatens the Greek islands?”