FAZ: Greece, Turkey and Bin Salman

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung refers to the visit of Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to Athens and writes: “After the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi crown prince had not visited Europe, now Athens is giving him a platform.”

A little further on, the newspaper notes: “Conservative Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis offered him this podium. Mohammed bin Salman is in Athens for two days for talks. While it is generally known what the consultations in the Greek capital will include, one can also safely assume what will not be discussed: the assassination of Khashoggi or other human rights violations in Saudi Arabia. In the shadow of Russia’s war against Ukraine, the times are not right to berate potential allies in the fight against Russia.”

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And the article continues: “And how much more so in Greece, which does support the European policy of sanctions against the Kremlin, but always defines its own interests in relation to  Ankara. From Athens’ point of view, Turkey is as great a threat to peace in Europe as Russia, and in fact is on its doorstep. The Mitsotakis government (like the previous one of his leftist predecessor Alexis Tsipras) creates and maintains a network of regional alliances, with which the country wants to protect itself from Turkey’s “neo-Ottoman” attitudes. Good relations with Israel and Egypt play an important role here, as do close exchanges with Saudi Arabia.”