Greek PM urges Turkey to ‘de-escalate’ situation at border

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is in favor of maintaining open lines of communication with Ankara even though "Turkey's recent decisions… have been particularly provocative for Greece" and urged the neighboring country to "de-escalate" the situation on the Greek-Turkish border.

"The events of the past 10 days have made relations between the two countries even harder. This is why it is essential that Turkey makes some move of de-escalation," Mitsotakis told the German Council on Foreign Relations during a visit to Berlin on Monday, referring to mounting tensions on the Greek-Turkish border following Ankara's recent decision to encourage tens of thousands of migrants to push through the Greek frontier into the European Union.

The move poses an "asymmetric threat" to Greece, Mitsotakis said, adding that "many of the people on the border had orders or were...