Vassilis Kaskarelis

Foreign Minister Vassilis Kaskarelis has personally congratulated Tayyip Erdogan on his reinauguration as Turkish president, on the sidelines of a dinner for the representatives of foreign governments who attended the swearing-in ceremony in Ankara, the Foreign Ministry has said.

Kaskarelis was representing the caretaker Greek government at the ceremony.

A Court of Appeal in Tirana extended the pretrial detention of the ethnic Greek mayor-elect of Himare who was arrested over an alleged election crime, state-run broadcaster ERT reported on Thursday.

Fredi Beleri was detained just two days before local elections that were held in southern Albania on May 14 over alleged voter bribery but still won the mayoral race. 

Foreign Minister Vassilis Kaskarelis asked for the release of two ethnic Greek men who were imprisoned during a mayoral election campaign in Albania at a meeting with the country's counterpart Olta Xhacka, diplomatic sources said on Thursday.

The request was made on the sidelines of the informal Summit of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs taking place in Oslo.

Foreign Minister Vassilis Kaskarelis is on Wednesday expected to meet Albanian counterpart Olta Xhacka, on the sidelines of the informal meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers in Oslo to discuss the release of a jailed ethnic Greek official. 

The caretaker government is faced with and will have to manage a sensitive regional and international environment which includes, among others, the permanently difficult Greek-Turkish puzzle and a critical phase of the war in Ukraine.

A 16-member caretaker government, led by senior judge Ioannis Sarmas, will be sworn in at noon at the Presidential Mansion.

The list of caretaker government ministers set to assume leadership for a month leading up to the second round of elections on June 25 was officially announced on Thursday.