Mitsotakis accuses media of exaggeration: We take a narrow view of broad issues in Greece

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke at the annual Roundtable Meeting panel organized by The Economist magazine in Athens in partnership with the Greek government.

During the panel, which he attended alongside European Parliament (EP) President Roberta Metsola, Mitsotakis was asked about the F-35 procurement issue for Turkey being the only negative topic for Greece at the NATO Summit. He replied, "I think if we reduce the public debate in Greece solely to issues related to Greece-Turkey relations, we do a disservice to the importance of the decisions taken at the summit."

"We adopt a very narrow perspective on broad issues"

In his speech, Mitsotakis accused the Greek media of exaggerating reports regarding Turkey's F-35 fighter jet procurement, stating, "When there are issues we need to discuss with Turkey, we discuss them among ourselves. I think in Greece, we sometimes adopt a very narrow perspective on these broad issues. I repeat, the most important message from the summit is that Europe is allocating more resources to defense."

Mitsotakis added, "I touched on this briefly yesterday, but I am always surprised by how a segment of the Greek media reports these issues by greatly exaggerating them and without grasping the complex dynamics we are facing. Therefore, let's leave this topic here. I have nothing more to add on this matter."

During the panel, Mitsotakis also spoke highly of cooperation with Turkey on migration, stating that the decrease in the number of irregular migrants is due to this collaboration. Mitsotakis said, "Today, on the islands in the eastern Aegean Sea, we see thousands of Turkish tourists visiting the islands with an expedited visa application rather than irregular migrants. We were able to achieve this because we cooperated with Turkey."

At the panel, EP President Metsola also drew attention to Europe's significant increase in defense spending. Metsola stated, "We used to not even talk about defense. In 2014, there were at most two or three countries that reached the target of allocating 2 percent of GDP to defense spending. Today, almost all countries in Europe are reaching these targets."

US President Donald Trump's green light for the supply of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey during the NATO Summit had drawn reactions from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

News Source: 12punto