The Greek government on Saturday leaked what it called an exchange, last week, between Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and main opposition New Democracy (ND) leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis regarding the sensitive fYRoM “name issue”, with the purported dialogue disclosed less than 24 hours before a major rally in central Athens featured overt anti-government overtones.
“I have a responsibility to the country,” is the statement attributed to Tsipras, and leaked by the government.
According to the same government source, Mitsotakis told Tsipras that the specific foreign policy issue – mostly dormant since 2008 – was revived by the latter’s embattled leftist-rightist coalition government for “petty partisan reasons”. Along those lines, Mitsotakis charged that the intent was to outmaneuver and possibly divide his center-right party by using the highly emotive “name issue”. However, Tsipras responded – as per the leak – that his intention was neither to divide nor unite any political formation.
In portraying a more Churchillian tone – in line with a feature film on the wartime UK leader playing in local movie theaters – the government side claimed that Tsipras declared that as long as he sits “in the prime minister’s chair”, he has a “responsibility towards the country and its history …I will do everything in my power to solve it (name issue) “
