Greece reacts to Turkish remarks

Athens Wednesday responded to disparaging comments by Turkey’s prime minister about Greece’s economic melee, urging its Aegean neighbor to mind its own business. “Greece would expect from its neighbors to respect its problems rather than make noise,” government spokesman Dimitris Tsiodras said Wednesday, urging Ankara to focus on its domestic problems instead. “Turkey still has a long way to go before matching Greece’s per capita gross domestic product,” he added. Earlier Wednesday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan rebuffed comparisons — made earlier this week by opposition Republican People’s Party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu — between the Greek and Turkish economies, saying that the debt-wracked nation is begging for money and trying to sell its islands in order to stay afloat. “How can you possibly make this comparison?” Erdogan said. “This would make even the crows laugh.”

Ekathimerini.com