According to Mitsotakis, Greece faces a large and unpredictable neighbour

In an interview with Greek State Television ERT, Mitsotakis made evaluations on bilateral relations.

In response to a question about Greece's and Türkiye's purchase of fighter jets, the former Prime Minister said, "Greece has to strengthen its Armed Forces because it faces a very large and geopolitically unpredictable neighbour. Of course, we cannot make long-term planning in the conditions of the moment."

Stating that Greece has made moves to strengthen itself militarily in the last four years, Mitsotakis said that the precondition for a substantive negotiation with Türkiye to resolve the main dispute is for Greece to increase its deterrent power.

Answering a question about whether he would meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Mitsotakis stated that in order for this to happen, his party New Democracy must first come to power and become prime minister as a result of the elections on 25 June.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis said, "This is important because Türkiye today has a strong and stable government, while Greece has a transitional government. If the elections had been held with the system that gives extra deputies to the first party, we could have had a stable government that came to power alone."

Emphasising that bilateral relations have improved in recent months, Mitsotakis said, "I believe that elections can always be the occasion for a new beginning."

Reminding that he had previously announced to the public that he wanted to meet with Erdoğan, Mitsotakis said, "We will have the opportunity to meet in Vilnius, Lithuania, to reshape the road map on which we can make progress in the coming months."

Stating that he is ready to discuss the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and continental shelf issues with Türkiye, Mitsotakis said that Greece is not open to discussing issues regarding the disarmament of islands and the sovereignty of the Eastern Aegean islands.

No government was formed after the general elections

In the general elections held in Greece on 21 May, New Democracy was the party that received the highest number of votes with 40.79 percent, but failed to reach the number of 151 deputies that would enable it to come to power alone.

Mitsotakis, who preferred to seek the path to power alone by going to the polls for the second time against the coalition option, handed over the prime ministerial post to Yannis Sarmas, the prime minister of the interim government that will carry the country to the general elections on 25 June, on 25 May.