The Greek government has appeared cautious so far in commenting on the results of Sunday’s elections in Turkey, where Recep Tayyip Erdogan was returned as president with sweeping new powers.
His conservative AK Party lost its majority in parliament but is expected to team up with the ultranationalists of the MHP to pass Erdogan’s decrees.
So far, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has not called the Turkish president to congratulate him on his victory. At the same time, Maximos Mansion has not issued an official statement on the subject.
However, a tweet in the early hours of Monday morning from Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency appeared to list Greece among those countries which had congratulated Erdogan.
🇦🇱 Albania
🇦🇿 Azerbaijan
🇧🇾 Belarus
🇧🇦 Bosnia Herzegovenia
🇬🇷 Greece
🇰🇼 Kuwait
🇲🇰 Northern Macedonia
🇵🇰 Pakistan
🇵🇸 Palestine
🇸🇴 Somalia
🇷🇸 Serbia
🇸🇩 Sudan
🇶🇦 Qatar
🇺🇿 UzbekistanWorld leaders celebrate Erdogan on #Turkey 🇹🇷 election victory pic.twitter.com/5WSkmugl4E
— ANADOLU AGENCY (ENG) (@anadoluagency) June 24, 2018
On Sunday night, the prime minister spoke on the telephone with his close associates to discuss the election results in the neighboring country.
Tsipras spoke to reporters after the EU summit on the refugee issue on Sunday, saying he hoped the Turkish government would respect its commitments “for the implementation of the EU-Turkey [migration] agreement”.
According to a source close to Maximos Mansion, the Greek administration believes that after Erdogan’s clear victory, he will be less nervous and more cooperative on bilateral issues, stressing that the Turkish provocations and inflammatory rhetoric were purely pre-election tactics.
Overall, at Maximos Mansion they believe that after his comfortable victory, the Turkish president will be more conciliatory towards Greece.
It is characteristic that all candidates in the Turkish elections kept the nationalist tone high, especially regarding territorial disputes with Greece.
At the same time, the Greek administration remains concerned over the two junior army officers still in custody in Turkey. Almost four months after their arrest, they are incarcerated without an indictment having been prepared.
Athens believes Ankara will prolong their imprisonment in retaliation for the eight Turkish ex-soldiers accused of involvement in the July 2016 coup attempt being freed from custody in Greece.
The same source said that the prime minister will call the Turkish leader to congratulate him later on Monday.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
