Greek PM calls for Emergency Meeting: FYROM, Turkey on agenda

Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called an emergency meeting of his cabinet on Tuesday morning in Parliament to discuss urgent matters such as the ongoing negotiations with FYROM and the deteriorating relations with Turkey.

According to government sources the Greek PM was scheduled to also discuss the finalisation of the fiscal program review as Greece prepares to exit the memorandum.

On Monday the Defence Minister Panos Kammenos raised the issue of the detention of two Greek solders by Turkish authorities saying it was in breach of international law.

Kammenos then dismissed suggestions that that Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan had been promised by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras the return of the eight Turkish servicemen that had escaped to Greece after the failed coup attempt in Turkey.

On the same day, Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias met with leaders opposition political parties and briefed them on the latest developments regarding the issue of FYROM’s name.

Kotzias met with general secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), Dimitris Koutsoumbas, at the party’s headquarters in Perissos and later the same day met with the head of the Potami party, Stavros Theodorakis.

“The minister briefed Koutsoumbas on the latest developments following the Greek government’s talks with the leadership of FYROM and Albania, as well as on the recent developments regarding Greek-Turkish relations and Cyprus’ issue,” said the KKE’s press statement.

During their meeting Koutsoumbas expressed his concerns over the dangerous developments in the Balkans, as well as in the wider region, due to increasing competition between the “interests of imperialist powers and the powerful capitalist countries”.

On his part Potami party leader, Stavros Theodorakis, said that the Foreign Minister briefed him in complete detail and saw the next few weeks as being decisive as to whether a solution with be found between Greece and FYROM on the name dispute.