ATHENS – “Turkish provocations are now taking on an institutional character, with respect to the incident with Central Macedonia governor Apostolos Tzitzikostas. We must say that it does the authorities of the neighbouring country no credit that they adopt a policy of cheap tricks, which they later try to justify with even cheaper excuses,” government spokesperson Yannis Oikonomou said during a press briefing on Monday.

“Mr. Tzizikostas, like the entire Greek State, is trying to be part of the solution to the issues with Turkey, while Turkey insists through provocative and unacceptable actions on constantly being part of the problem,” he added.

The government spokesperson also referred to the presence of the prime minister at the SNFCC at the opening event of the “Pharos Summit 2022”, organised by the Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs, for the cooperation between Greece and the USA in terms of higher education. He pointed out that this event was attended by representatives of all Greek universities and representatives from 30 major American universities.

“Our country, Greece, is becoming a beacon of education. It attracts high quality students, professors and researchers from all over the world. As it deserves. In this way research is strengthened, teaching is enriched and Greek universities are strengthened in terms of know-how and resources. At the same time, the high-quality research and teaching that takes place in Greek public universities is becoming even more well-known,” he underlined.

Oikonomou also made a reference to the household basket, pointing out that the first results are being positively evaluated. He said that the government is determined to exhaust all possible efforts to reduce the burden of high prices on the society and especially on more vulnerable households.

Commenting on the latest press article concerning the wiretapping issue, published in the newspaper “Documento”, Oikonomou said this was “long on assertions but short on evidence” up to this time. “[All this] must be thoroughly investigated by the competent authorities and Greek justice,” he said, adding that if they are proved correct those responsible must be prosecuted, while the same will happen if the reverse is true for those spreading such assertions.

Meanwhile, the publisher of “Documento” Kostas Vaxevanis paid a visit to the Supreme Court Prosecutor Isidoros Dogiakos on Monday and asked that the five cases involving wire tapping be merged under a single appeals court prosecutor and again linked the case to the prime minister, while saying that the cour messages published by the newspaper were evidence that there had been surveillance.