In Greek-Turkish, on the occasion of the recent meeting between Mr. Mitsotakis and T. Erdogan, the president of the Parliamentary Group of SYRIZA-PS mentioned in his statements, Socrates Famous.

Mr. Famellos accused Kyriakos Mitsotakis of “many times instrumentalizing national issues to gain political and electoral benefits”. “He went so far as to accuse SYRIZA-PS of being a “national exception” on the occasion of the unsatisfactory result of ND in Thrace and in general, when he accused us of deficiencies in our patriotism or when he participated in rallies. While he also promised before the election that he would raise the issue of Thrace in the meeting he would have with Mr. Erdogan, it seems that he has changed his mind,” he said while clarifying what was and is SYRIZA-PS’s position on Greek-Turkish:

“There must be a dialogue with her Turkey and there must be a solution to the only difference we have, for continental shelf/EEZ, coordinates, based on International Law. We did not want there to be a hunt for armaments in the Aegean, which creates exorbitant costs for societies. We want peaceful coexistence, based on international law,” he noted.

Mr. Famellos expressed “great concern” “regarding the words of Mr. Mitsotakis about the possibility of retreating from the starting positions” and raised four central issues, to which, as he said, the government must respond:

“- What does concessions on sovereignty matters mean? You can’t predict something like that when you’re negotiating. It’s not just the internal audience that hears them.

– The government must make it clear that the only and not the main difference, as written, with Turkey is the continental shelf/ EEZ. We ask Mr. Mitsotakis: Is it a geopolitical or legal issue for Mr. Mitsotakis? For us it is legal and concerns international law. It is not a geopolitical dispute that can be resolved bilaterally.

– What conditions will Greece impose on the USA for the supply of F-16s to Turkey? We cannot place our hopes only in the efforts, which are of course very important, made by the Congress and the Greek diaspora. They are very important but this is not enough.

– As Greece, we will set a positive agenda for the conditions we are putting in the discussion with the president of the European Council for the restart of Euro-Turkish relations. If something like this is not done, there is a chance that the bilateral dialogue with Turkey will collapse and Euro-Turkish relations will move forward.”

He added that “the diplomatic policy of the Mitsotakis government over the past four years makes us cautious and concerned. The line of the “faithful and given ally” and Greece’s absence from international meetings led to the illegal Turkish-Libyan pact and Oruc Reis walking outside Rhodes”.

He also underlined that SYRIZA-PS supports a stable and strong foreign policy, with Greece setting a positive agenda: “This is a stable value of SYRIZA-PS. I think this is how progressive thinking should be. This means that you practice patriotic politics, this is how we will be and this is what we must be. We want the exploratory dialogue and confidence-building measures with Turkey to proceed. We did this in many cases, as we also supported initiatives e.g. the EEZ agreement with Italy”.

S.Famellos also addressed the “major issue of accuracy”. He emphasized that it is unacceptable that the market pass is financed by taxation and overtaxation of consumers: “It must be financed by the taxation of the “greed inflation”/greedflation of those who unfairly collect excess profits. Grants are of course not a solution, but reducing prices is a solution. The increases announced by Mr. Mitsotakis in the salaries of civil servants are very small compared to the losses they have suffered in their income for 14 years.”