In his address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis focused on recent provocations by Turkey, as well as current issues around the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.
‘We are not enemies’:
First in his speech, Mitsotakis identified security, stability and the territorial integrity of Greece as Athens’ red lines against Turkish aggression.
He referred to Ankara’s revisionist agenda and its destabilising role for the region, and made specific references to the incendiary rhetoric emanating from Ankara.
Mitsotakis said disputing Greece’s territorial integrity is an “absolute red line” for all Greek people and an issue on which he, as prime minister, “will never compromise.”
But for all his criticism of Turkey, Mitsotakis also chose to emphasise the benefits of cooperation, and not only on issues affecting Greece and Turkey.
“Turkey’s leadership seems to have a strange fixation with my country… They threaten that Turkey will come at night, if it so decides. This is the language of an aggressor,” the Greek Prime Minister said.
“From the UN I would like to address… the Turkish people directly: Greece poses no threat to your country. We are not your enemies, we are neighbours… Let us move forward.”
Long-existing tensions between the two countries have flared up recently. Greece complained to NATO and the United Nations this month over what it called “inflammatory” statements by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
Meanwhile, Erdogan accused Greece this week of “crimes against humanity,” referring to its treatment of migrants, and earlier this month of occupying islands in the Aegean Sea that have a demilitarised status.
‘They will eventually be coming home’:
During his UNGA speech, Mitsotakis also referred to the long-standing demand for the permanent return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum in London to Athens, Greece.
“I’m pleased to say that our long and continuing effort to reunite the Parthenon sculptures back in Greece, in this effort we have received support from the vast majority of member states, as well as from UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee,” the Greek Prime Minister said.
“No matter how long it will take, the Parthenon sculptures will eventually be coming home.”
The sculptures were removed from the Parthenon temple, a 5th-century BC architectural masterpiece, in Athens in the early 19th century by British diplomat Lord Elgin at a time when the country was under Ottoman rule.
READ MORE: ‘Ι will continue fighting until the Parthenon Marbles return to Greece’: Emanuel J. Comino.
