“Our islands have a good flow of Turkish tourists. We want to strengthen these contacts between the two peoples,” said the Minister of Immigration and Asylum Dimitris Kairides speaking to ERT regarding the provision of visas to Turkish tourists to visit islands of the Eastern Aegean. He characteristically added that the “islanders have every reason to celebrate today”.

Commenting in detail on Erdogan’s visit to Athens, Mr. Kairides he said that everything went well, “better than even the most optimistic could have expected”. Asked if he believes that what happened today “is part of a more general strategy of Erdogan or if it is a medium-term appeasement until some things change internationally, such as e.g. the occupant of the White House”, Mr. Kairides he replied that “our caution and suspicion is absolutely justified”.

“From then on, however, he would not come [ ο Ερντογάν] with 8 ministers and the head of a multi-faceted delegation […] to talk in depth about the issues of illegal trafficking and irregular immigration, in which they promised to do everything possible to guard borders and stop any flows we have,” pointed out Mr. Kairides.

He added that “Turkey for its own reasons – purely reasons of interest – has decided that it does not want a confrontation with Greece, and it is the one that made a change of attitude, we are where we were, Turkey went from the “Mitsotakis yoke” to “my friend Kyriakos” and from Typhoon the missiles and “we will come one night” in the declaration of Athens”.