Mitsotakis: We want good relations with Türkiye
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
In a part of his speech, Mr Mitsotakis evaluated the relations between Türkiye and his country.
Mitsotakis expressed his expectations regarding the recently softening relations and said that Athens would like to establish better relations with Ankara.
Message of 'good relations' with Türkiye
"We are trying to extend our hand to Türkiye to establish normal and better relations," Prime Minister Mitsotakis said.
Stating that this is a long-term process, Mitsotakis continued as follows:
At some point, it may lead to more permanent détente. This may force us to reconsider allocating funds to the defence industry.
"We need to be smarter in resource allocation"
Stating that they should spend more on defence, Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis used the following statements:
But at the same time, in a period of high interest rates, budgetary pressures and additional post-pandemic spending, we need to be smarter in resource allocation.
"We face geopolitical threats"
Regarding the war in Ukraine, Mitsotakis noted that a war in the heart of Europe, which was unimaginable 4 or 5 years ago, has now determined new realities.
Regarding Greece's high defence expenditures, Mitsotakis defended the following:
We face constant geopolitical threats in our neighbourhood. Even in difficult times, we spend more than 2 percent of our gross domestic product on defence.
