Editorial Ta Nea: Greece’s diplomatic marathon

In his address to the UN General Assembly in New York on 20 September, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan unleashed provocative lies in order to defame Greece.

Now, it is Greece’s turn to respond and inform the international community what is really happening in the Aegean and the Evros Greek-Turkish border region.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ address to the UN General Assembly, which is scheduled for tomorrow, is only the beginning.

Erdogan unabashedly brandished photos of dead children in order to create a communications-oriented sensation and place the Greek government on the list of authoritarian regimes.

Athens must mobilise immediately, utilising its alliances and partners in an even more intense effort to highlight Turkey’s provocations.

What is needed is an international information campaign to belie, with the facts, what the Turkish president has said about what is going on with refugees in the Aegean.

These facts are not the only card that Greece has at its disposal in rebutting Erdogan’s claims.

Turkey is challenging Greece’s territorial integrity, and the daily, massive number of its fighter jets’ violation of Greece’s airspace, including a large number over Greek islands, demonstrate clearly which country is acting as the neighbourhood bully of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Until now, Turkey wanted to don the role of a bridge between the West and Russia.

At this stage, however, it is playing a destabilising role.