December 9, 2019 - 11:25 AMT
Greek PM rebukes Turkey for genocide against Christians

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has announced the need for international recognition of the Ottoman-era genocide of Greek Christians in Asia Minor, and slammed Turkey for its bellicosity in its maritime foreign policy in Mediterranean.

Mitsotakis delivered remarks at the International Conference on the Crime of Genocide, declaring that the “Ottoman Empire carried out the genocide of Pontian [Greeks]” and “how we shall learn from it, how we shall prevent the reliving of similar tragedies in our own lives, anywhere in the world.”

The prime minister blasted Ankara for its current foreign policy that, he said, is ignoring international law on the high seas. “Turkey has engaged in aggressiveness” and is “creating new maps that make the Islands of Greece disappear,” said Mitsotakis.

He said he met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of a NATO event in London last week, adding that the United States, Russia, Europe, Egypt and Israel have all condemned the memorandum of understanding signed between Turkey and Libya. The controversial deal changes the maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean.

The Greek government expelled the Libyan ambassador on Friday over the heated boundary dispute. The November agreement reached between Turkey and Libya permits Ankara to gain access to a zone across the Mediterranean, rejecting the complaints of Greece, Cyprus and Egypt, which are situated between Turkey and Libya.