Rama's statement sparks controversy in Athens/The Prime Minister responds to "those concerned"

2026-01-16 14:33:00, Aktualitet CNA

Rama's statement sparks controversy in Athens/The Prime Minister responds

Prime Minister Edi Rama has reacted to comments made by Greek media and politicians regarding his statement during the Sustainable Development Summit in Abu Dhabi to Greek-American journalist John Defterios, to whom he addressed the words "You think you are the heir of Plato and Aristotle, but you are not...".

Through a reaction on the "X" platform, Rama emphasizes that it is incredible that a sentence said with humor can be taken out of context and turned into a public controversy with nationalist pathos, which unfortunately happens often in media Athens!

But Rama calms those "hurt" by this statement by saying that there is no doubt that Plato and Aristotle are Greek philosophers and that Ancient Greece is the cradle of European civilization; that Greek culture deserves only admiration, not only for the philosophers of antiquity but also for the poets, writers, filmmakers and music it has given to humanity.

The Prime Minister writes that the Greek people are an irreplaceable neighbor and an inalienable brother of the Albanian people for him and that he has special respect for the Prime Minister of Greece.

“I am amazed by the reaction of some media outlets in Athens and some tired Greek politicians regarding my not at all tendentious, but friendly tone during the conversation with the esteemed journalist John Defterios at the panel organized during the Sustainable Development Summit in Abu Dhabi!

It is incredible that a sentence said with humor can be completely taken out of context and turned into a public polemic with nationalist pathos, which unfortunately happens often in media Athens!

But I assure all those who are worried and hurt that I have not the slightest doubt that Plato and Aristotle are Greek philosophers and that Ancient Greece is the cradle of European civilization; that Greek culture deserves only admiration, not only for the philosophers of antiquity but also for the poets, writers, filmmakers and the music it has given to humanity; that Greece is a country for which I have the most positive feelings, that the Greek people are for me an irreplaceable neighbor and an inalienable brother of the Albanian people and that I have special respect for the Prime Minister of Greece!

Did we understand? I hope so.

But let no one among the worried and hurt ask me for my humor, that anyone who writes and speaks Greek with the nationalist pathos of the aforementioned, should seem to me a descendant of Plato and Aristotle!

That's it," Rama writes./ CNA