Starting 2020 by taking a harder line, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Greece will do whatever it takes to defend its territories, a shot at Turkey which said it will start drilling for energy off Crete as part of a deal with Libya dividing the seas between them.
While he said he will continue to try using diplomacy that hasn’t worked when dealing with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Mitsotakis stepped back a bit from his earlier hope that “goodwill” would make Turkey stop provocations in the Aegean and East Mediterranean.
Mitsotakis, who ousted the former ruling Radical Left SYRIZA in July 7 snap elections in 2019, ending its 4 1/2-year reign, said he was bringing a “new national self-confidence” based on more “open-minded thinking and bold actions.”
He said his government had broken with SYRIZA’s legacy of “stagnation, insecurity, and demagoguery,” and was pushing Greece ahead with a mix of political, economic and multiple education reforms.
Talking tough instead of diplomatic about Turkey, which has continued to also send fighter jets into Greek airspace, raising fears of a conflict, he said that, “Geopolitical challenges do not intimidate us. The right is on our side. We have strong allies. We have the deterrent capability to fend off any claims to our sovereign rights.”
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