Fmr. FM Dora Bakoyannis: For the first time I am worried about Turkey

Former Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs Dora Bakoyannis expressed her worry about the increased level of aggressive rhetoric against Greece emanating from Turkey.

"For the first time, I am worried by the scene set by the Turks with their aggressive rhetoric and I am not one of those who predict war every week," said the current New Democracy MP, adding: "the period that scares me the most is that of the lack of government that will exist between the elections."

As she noted about Turkey's aggressive rhetoric, “it is a language that has never been heard before. It has never happened before in the past that a country directly threatens a NATO ally with war,” she noted and, answering why the Turks are doing this, she emphasised:

"Turkey is in negotiations with America and they are trying to blackmail them on five points:

1) With Finland joining NATO

2) With the attack they made in Syria

3) With the negotiations to upgrade the F-16s that have left them out

4) They were also excluded from the F-35

5) On Greece

"The Turks are telling the Americans that 'we will make trouble if you don't meet our demands'."

Bakoyannis predicted that Turkey will continue this rhetoric and will make an effort to irritate Greece so that it "will make a mistake", adding "But our armed forces are experienced and we must avoid ill-treatment."

"I fear the pre-election period"

To a question about whether she is afraid that Turkey might try to… come to Greece at night (as  Erdogan says so often), Bakoyannis answered that: "The period I fear the most is the period of the caretaker government. Between the first and the second elections, when we will be with a caretaker government."

However, Bakoyannis noted that "Turkey has never attacked an armed and organised country. It has entered Libya and Syria in countries that, at the specific time of the attack, had disintegrated.”

"Erdogan will not come day or night - He will win the elections"

Bakoyanni noted that "Erdogan will not come night or day. He knows that something like this is suicidal for Turkey's position tomorrow. He will try to make Greece make the mistake."

Regarding the elections in Turkey, she emphasised that: "I still believe that Erdogan will win the elections since he has a fragmented opposition against him".

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