Greece rebukes Erdoğan for ‘begging’ remark

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

Greek law makers attend a swearing-in ceremony in the Greek parliament in Athens on May 17, 2012. Greece unveiled today a caretaker cabinet of technocrats tasked with organising the cash-strapped nation's second elections just six weeks after an inconclusive vote sent jitters across the eurozone. AFP PHOTO/ ARIS MESSINIS

Turkey should respect Greece’s troubles rather than “make noise,” a spokesman for the country’s government said today, firing back at Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who earlier said the Aegean nation was “begging” for bailouts.
 
"Turkey still has a long way to go to even reach the reduced per capita income in Greece," Dimitris Tsiodras said. "It would be better for our neighbor to deal with its own problems and have a more constructive approach in bilateral relations."
 
Erdoğan recently dismissed main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s claims that the Greek economy was better than its Turkish counterpart, calling on his rival to be realistic.
 
"Can a country begging for 100 billion [euros] to avoid a collapse be a model for Turkey? Can a country that is currently trying to sell its islands be a model for Turkey?” Erdoğan was quoted as saying.