Deputy Education Minister Costas Zouraris said in a press conference that it doesn’t matter if Turkey takes some of the Greek islands, causing an uproar.
Education Minister Costas Gavroglou who was present at the press conference rushed to clarify that, “what the deputy said did not refer to the Greek islands, but Greek things in general.”
“You think that there is no threat to the country. You think that [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan only wants some of our islands. It doesn’t matter if we lose some islands. We can always get the islands back. It is important that they don’t take our language,” Zouraris said, adding that what is truly threatened is the Greek language.
Later Zouraris spoke to Real FM, where he did not retract his controversial statement. What he said was that his statement was “something that Aristotle would call an exaggerated figure of speech.”
He further explained that he used the exaggeration to show the absurdity of the Turkish claims, and also the absurdity of some Greek people who believe there is a real threat from Turkey.
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