Greece will never discuss issues pertaining to sovereignty during talks with Turkiye, government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis stressed on Friday, in an interview on SKAI television. This dealt with rail transport safety, the prime minister’s criticism of far-right “super-patriots”, economic issues and the election of the new president of the Hellenic Republic, among others.

He noted that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had been clear and had referred generally to the far-right in the country, and to certain of the media “which are attempting to cultivate a very dangerous – and unfair, with respect to the country’s achievements – propaganda on national issues.”

“There is a narrative that is reproduced…without exception, by all of the parties to the right of New Democracy, the far right in other words….where Greece is ‘attempting to do something that is somewhere between treason and a secret plan’,” Marinakis said, while noting that this was “entirely the opposite of what was happening in reality”. The prime minister had simply reminded people of the things that had been done in foreign policy to strengthen and defend the country, such as extending its territorial waters in the Ionian Sea and proceeding with major armaments programmes, he added.

Marinakis criticised the insistence on no dialogue and no talks as “the definition of false patriotism” and challenged critics to find one instance when the government had even hinted at backing down over issues of sovereignty. Regarding comments made by former ND leader and premier Antonis Samaras on foreign policy issues, the spokesperson pointed out that the Cyprus Republic “has itself stated, via its president, that our process of dialogue with Turkiye has contributed to the resumption, even on an informal level, of talks on the Cyprus issue.”