Greece's justice minister has triggered a political firestorm after claiming Turkey would invade if the 2027 election fa...

Greece's justice minister has triggered a political firestorm after claiming Turkey would invade if the 2027 election fails to produce a stable government. Giorgos Floridis told voters that if Greece is "left ungoverned, an invasion from across the border is inevitable," pointing directly at Turkey. PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis fired back hard, accusing Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of turning the election into a geopolitical scare campaign. Androulakis summed up the shift in New Democracy's messaging as moving from "Mitsotakis or chaos" to "Mitsotakis or Erdogan," calling it a game that undermines national interests. Mitsotakis distanced himself from his minister's remarks in public, telling Androulakis it was "profoundly irresponsible" to drag foreign policy into the domestic political debate. He stopped short, however, of directly criticizing Floridis, the man who made the invasion claim in the first place. Polls currently show New Democracy struggling to secure an outright parliamentary majority ahead of the spring 2027 vote. Greece also takes over the rotating EU Council presidency in July 2027, adding another layer of pressure on the government to present itself as the only stable option. The timing is notable on both sides of the Aegean. Turkish President Erdogan signaled this week what many interpreted as a call for snap elections, despite a constitutional block on a third presidential term. Turkey's own elections are scheduled for 2028. Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan separately warned Greece not to become a tool for those looking to "destabilise the region," referencing Athens' deepening military cooperation with Israel. Greek-Turkish relations have a well-documented pattern of heating up before elections in either country, a cycle Turkey's former EU affairs minister Egemen Bagis acknowledged openly to Euractiv. #Greece #GreeceTurkey #Mitsotakis