Fallout continued on Tuesday from the previous day’s sharp criticism by outspoken Defense Minister Panos Kammenos of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ankara’s overall stance over the recent period, with the opposition in the country and even ruling SYRIZA party MPs warning that the latter’s comments were “over the top”.
Among others, Kammenos, who heads up a small rightist-populist party that props up the current “strange bedfellows” coalition government, referred to powerful Erdogan as the “sultan” and possibly “crazy”, raising eyebrows even amongst the most vocal critics of the Turkish president in Greece.
Athens has been particularly guarded due to the fact that two Greek servicemen continue to be held in pre-trial detention in Turkey for allegedly straying into Turkish territory, while Turkish military provocations have taken place in the eastern Aegean and eastern Mediterranean.
SYRIZA deputies that spoke to “N” on Monday referred to “old-fashioned (political) catchphrases”, ones entirely served up for domestic consumption and outside the margins of the ruling leftist party’s policy.
A Cabinet meeting, in fact, is scheduled for late Tuesday morning in the wake of Kammenos’ eyebrow-raising comments against Erdogan.
In his reaction, main opposition New Democracy (ND) president Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the leftist Greek premier should have already fired the right-wing Kammenos, his junior coalition partner.
“He’s not only incompetent, he’s dangerous,” Mitsotakis said, in reference to Kammenos.
Both men were high-profile members of ND for decades, before Kammenos was expelled in 2012 due to his shrill opposition to bailout memorandums and austerity policies.
“He (Kammenos) exercises foreign policy and needlessly throws oil on the fire … Mr. Tsipras is a weak prime minister that should have fired Mr. Kammenos yesterday (Monday),” Mitsotakis told a news radio program on Tuesday.
He also said the Tsipras government failed to properly assess the gravity of the incident involving the two Greek servicemen when it occurred, but instead downgraded the affair.
