Turkey hopes for better ties under new Greek leadership


President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday congratulated Greece's prime minister-elect, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, over the phone, according to Turkish presidential sources.

Erdoğan expressed his hope that the results will contribute to the relations between the two countries and to regional prosperity, sources said on the condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also congratulated Mitsotakis on Twitter. "Warmly congratulate New Democracy [ND] leader Kriakos Mitsotakis for the electoral victory. Confident that Turkish-Greek friendship & bilateral relations will further strengthen during his leadership," Çavuşoğlu said.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman yesterday also congratulated Greece's main opposition leader Mitsotakis for his victory in Sunday's general elections, voicing hope for enhanced bilateral ties. "We congratulate New Democracy leader Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who has won the snap general elections held in Greece yesterday [July 7] and has been entitled to form the government," Hami Aksoy said in a statement.

"With the establishment of the government under the leadership of Mr. Mitsotakis, we hope that our bilateral relations will be further enhanced on the basis of the friendship between Turkish-Greek peoples. To this end, we want to swiftly revitalize existing dialogue channels and start our contacts as soon as possible to address issues on our agenda," Aksoy said.