Tsipras: Turkey emerged as critical regional actor despite Greece

Greece’s main opposition leader Alexis Tsipras, who previously served as the country’s prime minister, said Turkey has emerged as a critical actor in the region, despite Greece’s efforts.

Rejecting claims that Turkey and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have been isolated, Tsipras told a local Crete-based broadcaster that Turkey is becoming geopolitically stronger, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.

Tsipras noted that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had hoped to appeal to the West by following a pro-Western, anti-Russia policy and prevent Turkey from getting the spotlight, but the opposite has happened.

“Turkey has been rising as we try to get the spotlight,” Tsipras said.

The opposition leader continued by criticizing the Greek government for providing arms assistance to Ukraine, which would indicate that Athens is taking sides in the conflict.

Regarding the evacuation of Greek citizens from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol with the help of Turkey, Tsipras said Greece has failed to facilitate their evacuation.

Tsipras continued by saying that they would like the disputes between Turkey and Greece to be solved based on international law.

With regards to the U.S. decision to withdraw support from EastMed, the planned subsea pipeline to provide natural gas from the Eastern Mediterranean to Europe, Tsipras said Greece keeps giving the West everything it wants, but Turkey gets everything in return.

“In a way, we are losing in every aspect,” Tsipras said.

Turkey had opposed the pipeline, saying that any project that aims to sideline the rights of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in the Eastern Mediterranean will be unsuccessful.

Last month, Tsipras had called on the government to keep an open door dialogue with Turkey as he criticized its foreign policy.