Government spokesperson Yiannis Economou on Tuesday expressed the grief and support of the government and the Greek people following the devastating earthquakes in Turkey, speaking at a press briefing in Thessaloniki, while noting that Greece "was the first to offer assistance and is already providing aid," sending rescue workers and experts in dealing with earthquakes to the affected areas.

Economou said that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday spoke on the phone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and expressed the sorrow of the government and the Greek people for the humanitarian disaster caused by the strong earthquake in the neighbouring country. The prime minister also repeated that Greece is ready to assist in every possible way, Economou said. Erdogan thanked Mitsotakis for the support and the immediate aid that Greece is providing.
Finally, Economou referred to the amendment that is to be voted on in parliament on Wednesday, which seeks to give the Supreme Court powers to stop criminal organisations posing as political parties from participating in elections.
"Democracy as a political system is a regime of tolerance but should not be naive," Economou said, adding that the entire political system should stand united against those seeking to undermine democracy without equivocation and that there was no room for "exceptions or supposed disagreements".

"Now at the end of our four-year term, the citizens know that what we have done what we said. We are reliable, not in words but with verifiable facts, and in the next four years we will be able to correct our weaknesses and do more and better things for all Greeks," Economou concluded.