More Than Moussaka on the Menu as Greece Gears Up for Elections

As if in an inadvertent nod to their geographical proximity, Greece and Turkey are both in election season, with Turkish voters heading to the polls on Sunday and Greeks a week later. The electoral landscape in Turkey is more tumultuous than in Greece, where Prime Minister Mitsotakis is widely seen as a shoo-in. Following a period of national mourning after a train disaster in February, the campaigns of all the major parties have taken on an almost festive air. Yet with Turkey next door and the war in Ukraine raging not far away, there are many serious issues at stake. Mr. Mitsotakis says he will extend “a hand of friendship” to the winner of upcoming elections in the country’s neighbor and longtime regional rival — but adds that he hopes the next Turkish government will “reconsider its approach toward the West.”He is willing to speak to whomever emerges victorious from Sunday’s polls in Turkey, but in a wide-ranging interview with the Associated Press while on the campaign trail in central Greece on Thursday evening, he also said, “I’m not naive. I know that foreign policies of countries don’t change from one day to the next.”Turkey’s increasingly authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has led his country as prime minister and president since 2003, faces his most challenging election. Amid a faltering economy, Mr. Erdogan has lost some ground to his main rival, the secular, center-left Kemal Kilicdaroglu.Although not to the same level as with Greece, a fellow NATO member, Turkey’s relations with America and several European countries have seen strain. Turkey is blocking Sweden’s request to join NATO, pressing the country to crack down on Kurdish militants and other groups that Turkey regards as terrorist threats.“I would hope that the next Turkish government would overall reconsider its approach towards the West, not just towards Greece, towards Europe, towards NATO, and towards the United States,” Mr. Mitsotakis said. “But again, I have to be a realist and not be too naive, and that is why we will continue with … our firm foreign policy. That means we will continue to strengthen our deterrence capabilities and our defense capabilities.”Greece and Turkey have been at odds for decades over issues including their maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean. Bilateral relations in recent years plummeted to new lows that saw the countries’ warships shadowing each other and Turkish officials suggesting they could invade Greek islands.In response, Greece has embarked on an extensive military procurement program to modernize its armed forces, including purchasing advanced French-built fighter jets. “I wish I did not have to spend much more than 2 percent of my GDP on defense. But unfortunately, we live in a precarious neighborhood with … a much larger country than us that’s also been behaving aggressively,” Mr. Mitsotakis said.The prime minister said that he hopes to build on a reduction of rhetoric following devastating earthquakes in Turkey in February that killed tens of thousands of people. Similarly improved ties after earthquakes struck both Turkey and Greece in 1999 lasted for several years.“It is a pity. We don’t have to wait for a catastrophe to strike, nor are we destined to live in a state of permanent tension,” Mr. Mitsotakis said. But, he stressed, better ties require an end to bellicose rhetoric from Turkey. “If the Turkish government every other day talks about coming at night to invade our islands, obviously that is not very conducive towards building a climate of trust and goodwill,” he said.Because of a change in Greece’s electoral law, the winner of the ballot is unlikely to garner enough votes to be able to form a government without seeking coalition partners. If no party can form a government, a second election will be held roughly a month later, when the electoral law will give the winning party bonus parliamentary seats.“I’ve made it very clear I don’t believe in this electoral system. What we need is … a stable government, and preferably we need a single-party government,” Mr. Mitsotakis said.The Greek premier criticized his chief opponent, a former prime minister, Alexis Tsipras of the left-wing Syriza party. “I’ll be very, very blunt,” Mr. Mitsotakis said. “If Syriza tries to implement even a fraction of what they have said,” it will lead to “a certain downgrade of our economy.”When Mr. Mitsotakis first came to power, Greece was barely emerging from a brutal decade-long financial crisis that saw it lose access to international bond markets and put the country’s finances under the strict supervision of international creditors in return for billions of euros in bailout loans.Although Greece has regained market access, international rating agencies still rank its bonds just below investment grade. Mr. Mitsotakis has said that he expects Greek bonds to be lifted out of junk status this year — if he wins re-election. Mr. Tsipras’s government often clashed with Greece’s bailout creditors, who set strict fiscal policies in return for emergency funds.As for the long-simmering dispute with Britain over the Elgin marbles that were once part of the Parthenon atop the Acropolis, Mr. Mitsotakis said, “We will never recognize that these sculptures are owned, legally owned by the British Museum. But again, we have to be constructive and we have to be innovative if a solution is to be found.”

More Than Moussaka on the Menu as Greece Gears Up for Elections

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