Greek PM: Despite heat, tensions with Turkey have been worse

By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS
Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is seeking to reassure his compatriots over strong rhetoric from longtime regional rival Turkey. In a broadcast late Tuesday, Mitsotakis said relations are not yet at the low of 2020, when the two neighbors’ warships were shadowing each other in the eastern Mediterranean. He dismissses Turkey’s questioning of Greek sovereignty over many of the eastern Greek islands as “completely irrational.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan raised the stakes last week, warning Greece to demilitarize its Aegean islands, saying he was “not joking.” The two NATO allies have long been at odds over offshore rights, ownership of uninhabited islets and the war-divided island nation of Cyprus, and have come close to war three times in the past half century.