ND leader backs Cyprus president

New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed his unswerving support for Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades's efforts in his quest for "a just and viable solution to the Cyprus problem" at a meeting Monday with visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, but he also voiced concern at the incendiary rhetoric coming out of Turkey.

The leader of the conservative party, which recent polls suggest has established an unassailable lead over ruling SYRIZA, said the "revisionist" comments made by high-ranking Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have sparked considerable concern over Ankara's "true intentions" with regard to Greek-Turkish relations.

These statements, he said, only fuel tension at a time when the Cyprus talks have intensified. What is needed now, he said, is "calm and prudence."

Rival leaders on the...