The feud between ND and SYRIZA over the Rhodope is intensifying with shots being fired from both sides and a war of statements after ND president Kyriakos Mitsotakis revealed to SKAI that the president of SYRIZA had been informed about the interventions of the Turkish consulate in favor of specific persons .

The press representative of the ND, Akis Skertsos, accused the president of SYRIZA, Alexis Tsipras, of indecency and mocking the institutions on the occasion of his visit to the interim prime minister, Ioannis Sharma.

In particular, Mr. Skertsos spoke of taunting the institutions and fireworks on the part of Mr. Tsipras while he accused him of prioritizing the party interest over the national interest.
He reiterated that the leader of SYRIZA had been informed in a timely and competent manner and chose to ignore the warnings even of his own party officials.
“Does Mr. Tsipras deny that he had received material with messages about the involvement of the Turkish consulate?” he said and then wondered once again why the SYRIZA MP candidates in Rodopi do not take a clear position and declare that they represent the Muslim minority.

Earlier, the President of SYRIZA, after his meeting with the interim prime minister, spoke of “unacceptable instrumentalization of the EYP”, while regarding what was revealed in the meeting with the prime minister, he stated that “I expressed my concern in relation to the tactic of crude blackmail and targeting. The Muslim minority in Thrace and especially the Turkish influence on the Muslim minority cannot be dealt with either by targeting or by division.”
In response to Mr. Skertsos’ statements, SYRIZA’s press representative, Popi Tsapanidou, accused Mr. Skertsos of divisive toxicity and stated that “Mr. Skertsos continued the extremely dangerous game with the Muslim minority of Thrace. The representative of the ND did not hesitate to characterize SYRIZA as a “national exception”, resurrecting the divisive toxicity of the post-civil war years”.

The issue of the Rhodopes was mentioned on Monday morning on SKAI, and the New Democracy MP candidate Yiannis Oikonomou, emphasizing that “it is an issue, which we must deal with with national sensitivity, not from a political and party point of view. Those of the minority have been decided by the Treaty of Lausanne and should not become the subject of internal political confrontation”.