Greek PM Tsipras holds warm talks with Turkey’s left-wing opposition

Rifat Başaran - ANKARA

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (L) greeted by CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (R) on Nov. 18, 2015. DHA Photo

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras held cordial talks with the leaders of Turkey’s Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), both left-wing opposition parties, as he visited the Turkish capital for a meeting with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on Nov. 18.

Tsipras and CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu agreed to make joint efforts to turn both the Aegean and the Mediterranean into “seas of peace,” sources said. Delegations from the two parties will gather to draft a roadmap to this aim when a delegation from Tsipras’ Syriza party visits Turkey next week.

Tsipras and the CHP leader met late on Nov. 18 following the former’s meeting with Davutoğlu. Later in the same evening, Tsipras held a meeting with HDP co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ, who was accompanied by the party’s deputy co-chair, Nazmi Gür.

Tsipras expressed high appreciation for the political strive of the HDP. “We are watching your struggle with admiration,” Tsipras was quoted as saying during the meeting. A Syriza delegation is planned to visit Turkey in the coming weeks to strengthen relations with the HDP.

Tsipras congratulated HDP officials on behalf of his Syriza party for passing the election threshold and marking it into parliament in the Nov. 1 elections.

Tsipras also stated they followed the upsetting events in Syria closely and would be in solidarity with the people of Kobane. He added they would not approach the Kurdish question on a security basis, unlike what the former governments of Greece have so far done.