Turkish PM’s meeting with Greek Syriza’s leader sows seeds of bilateral relations: Syriza

ATHENS – Anadolu Agency

Alexis Tsipras, the head of radical leftist Syriza party, addresses supporters. REUTERS Photo

Greece's Syriza party leader Alexis Tsipras’ meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu in December 2014 marks an important beginning in bilateral relations, Syriza’s foreign relations representative has said.

Tsipras and Davutoğlu held talks at an Athens airport in early December 2014, at the end of Davutoğlu’s two-day official trip to Greece, where he also met with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, whose New Democracy party seems to be heading for defeat.

“That meeting was an important beginning for the relations between Syriza and the Turkish government,” Syriza’s Foreign Relations Representative Nadia Valavani told Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency in an interview on Jan. 22.

Syriza looks set for a comfortable victory in the Jan. 25 general election, according to opinion polls that show the radical left-wing party consolidating gains in the final days of campaigning.

The election in Greece is being closely watched by financial markets, as a victory by the anti-bailout party could trigger a standoff with European Union and IMF lenders and push the country close to bankruptcy or an exit from the eurozone.