Lastly, asked to comment on Europe’s management of the migration issue, Mr. Varvitsiotis stated that the decisions adopted by the European Council last week, where he accompanied the Prime Minister, largely reflected the Greek position, namely that there is a need for European borders’ increased surveillance and protection.Turkey is currently experiencing a humanitarian, material, and economic disaster. The affected area’s size, population, and contribution to the country’s GDP are enormous. We are not talking about the same Turkey that threatened us the day before yesterday that “will come at night,” nor are we talking about the Turkey where Mr. Erdogan’s hegemony or political game was the main and dominant issue in political life,” Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis stressed, speaking today to journalist Katia Makri on Real FM radio station. Mr. Varvitsiotis emphasised that the immediate dispatch of aid on the initiative of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the fact that Greece’s Disaster Management Special Unit was among the first rescue teams to arrive in Turkey, as well as the number of Greek NGOs that have rushed to assist are changing the atmosphere between the two people. “The daily propaganda against Greece had started to poison the Turkish people in recent years, and the public opinion had been infected with an anti-Hellenism that was a source of concern to us. This appears to be changing”, he stated, estimating that we may be entering a more moderate period regarding our relations with Turkey.The Alternate Minister also underlined that one of the next challenges we will face is the flow of Turkish refugees to Western European countries, particularly those with large Turkish communities, such as Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
