Former Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis Aims to Meet Turkish President Erdogan at NATO Summit for Diplomatic Talks

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the former Greek Prime Minister and a frontrunner in the upcoming elections on June 25, stated on Tuesday that if declared the winner, he intends to arrange a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, scheduled for next month.

In an interview with public broadcaster ERT, Mitsotakis expressed his intention, saying, "If I become the prime minister, I will strive to revise the roadmap that Greece and Turkey will follow in the upcoming months at the NATO summit."

He emphasized that Greece recognizes only one unresolved matter with Turkey, which could potentially be brought before the International Court of Justice in The Hague for resolution - the delimitation of maritime zones.

Regarding Greece's ongoing comprehensive rearmament initiatives, Mitsotakis explained, "Greece is compelled to strengthen its armed forces due to the presence of our largest and geopolitically unpredictable neighbour next to us."

He further stated, "We have succeeded in altering the balance in terms of the strength of our armed forces."

In recent years, Greece has entered into significant arms deals, including procuring drones from Israel, Rafale jets from France, and upgrades to its F-16 fleet from the United States.

Additionally, Athens has engaged in discussions with Washington to potentially acquire at least 20 F-35 stealth aircraft and with Berlin to modernise its Leopard 2 tank fleet and acquire Lynx armoured vehicles.