Greece’s former Prime Minister and leader of the main opposition party SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance Alexis Tsipras on Thursday accused the Mitsotakis government of being unable to protect the country’s national interests against Turkish threats.
The former PM was referring to the recent military agreement between North Macedonia and Turkey, claiming the current Greek government is unable to halt the expansion of Turkey’s influence in the region.
It should be noted that Turkey also has a political footprint in North Macedonia, through the Turkish Democratic Party (TDP) which only last month held it 10th ordinary party congress in the capital Skopje, as reported by Anadolu Agency. In attendance were ministers, lawmakers and politicians from Turkey and the region.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis cannot protect Greece’s national interests in North Macedonia as long as he is not bringing three Greece-North Macedonia agreements for ratification to Parliament, “afraid of Mr. Samaras”, said the former PM.
Under the Syriza government, Greece and its northern neighbor signed the landmark Prespes Agreement in June 2018 that allowed North Macedonia to gain NATO membership and opened the way for a future application for accession to the European Union.
Syriza also accused the government of “undermining any option of developing a strategic relationship with North Macedonia, leaving the field wide open to Turkey.”
It said that “the Prespes Agreement is the reason there already is a defense agreement between Greece and North Macedonia, and Greek Air Force airplanes have assumed its defense by air, that there is training of special forces, parachutists and divers, and in cyber-defence, as well as joint military exercises of the two countries.”