Naiveté or provocation? Tsipras asked about bilateral ties with … 'Kurdistan' at Moscow univ

One of the more unusual moments in Greek PM Alexis Tsipras’ official visit to Russia this week came during a visit to the Mgimo University in Moscow, where a young man who identified himself as a Kurd asked, in decent Greek, if diplomatic relations between Greece and … “Kurdistan” could be established. The question came after Tsipras finished an address before an amphitheatre full of college students. The young man, who identified himself as “Yuan Be” (sic), said he was the first student learning Greek at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, before saying: “Greece and Kurdistan do not have diplomatic … is there any chance for the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two countries?” Tsipras and the rest of the auditorium appeared amused at the man’s proficiency in Greek, with a smiling Greek PM merely saying, tongue-in-cheek, that when any consulate is established he’ll (the student) be the first ambassador.