Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis covered a wide array of subjects in a sit-down interview with Wall Street Journal (WSJ) editor-in-chief Emma Tucker on Wednesday, touching on the good course of the country’s economy, as he said, energy matters and even Athens’ complex and often testy relations with neighboring Turkey and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Greece’s Transformation https://t.co/1z9yNkEwcj

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Mitsotakis’ videotaped interview in New York City came on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly, which he will address on Friday.
The interview came a day after a scheduled meeting at the Turkish mission in Manhattan with Erdogan, Turkey’s long-time leader, was cancelled. In fielding a question on often strained relations, at the official level, with neighboring Turkey, Mitsotakis merely noted that open communications channels don’t necessarily mean that the Greek side agrees with Ankara on all issues.

In using a well-known French phrase, namely, “C’est la vie”, in response to a question on whether recent moves by Greece have caused discomfort on the part of Turkey. The quip was in reference to international tenders issued by Greece for hydrocarbon exploration south of the large island of Crete, something that has attracted the attention of US multinational Chevron.

Mitsotakis WSJ

At the same time, he said his government will continue to talk with the Turkish side and try to find projects of mutual benefit that can be implemented.
Tucker kicked off the interview by revealing she traveled to Greece this past summer, with Mitsotakis beaming over the country’s performance in the all-important tourism industry and stressing that more than 100,000 Turkish nationals, among others, visited islands in the eastern Aegean through the highly successful “express visa” system inaugurated by his government over the past two years.

Mitsotakis WSJ

He said this is an example of a project at the people-to-people level affecting the citizens of both countries, with the WSJ editor-in-chief inserting that a “boisterous” Turkish family stayed at the same hotel in Greece where she stayed – to which Mitsotakis answered that he knows of many Turks who spent their vacation in the country – and where all are welcomed.
The economy and Greece’s recovery since the bailout era also dominated the interview, with Mitsotakis also warning against the influence of populists.