ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said it was impossible to meet Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis until the Greek leader “pulls himself together”, broadcaster NTV said on Friday, amid renewed tensions between the NATO members and neighbours.
Historic rivals, Turkey and Greece have been at odds over issues ranging from overflights and the status of Aegean islands, maritime boundaries and hydrocarbon resources in the Mediterranean, and ethnically-split Cyprus.
Tensions flared again recently over air space and the status of demilitarised islands in the Aegean. Erdogan has said Mitsotakis “no longer exists for him” after the Greek premier lobbied for the United States not to sell Turkey F-16 fighter jets during a speech at the U.S. Congress.
“Let him pull himself together. As long as he doesn’t pull himself together, it is not possible for us to meet,” Erdogan told reporters on a return flight from a NATO summit in Madrid.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)
