Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced a package of annual financial incentives worth 5,000 euros for public workers and households on Kastellorizo, and used the same appearance to warn Turkey that Greece does not accept threats or instructions from anyone.
Mitsotakis spoke at ceremonies on the island marking the anniversary of its liberation. He said his goal was to keep people living on Kastellorizo and attract new residents, linking the financial incentives to housing, ferry connections and the completion of key infrastructure projects.
Two annual incentives worth 5,000 euros
The first measure is a permanent annual salary incentive of 5,000 euros for staff of all public services, security forces and the armed forces serving on the island.
The second targets the local community and anyone considering starting a new life on Kastellorizo. It establishes a settlement and residency incentive of 5,000 euros per household each year, tax-free and protected from seizure, rising by 1,000 euros for every minor child.
The only condition is completing at least one full year of residence on the island. Current permanent residents will receive the payment from early 2027, while new residents will start receiving it from 2028 and every year after that. Mitsotakis said the aim was to make Kastellorizo a permanent place to live.
Warning to Turkey on national sovereignty
The second major theme of the speech carried national significance, made more symbolic by being delivered from Kastellorizo, Greece's easternmost inhabited island, which sits close to the Turkish coast.
Mitsotakis pointed to a triptych of "certainty, stability and consistency," saying Greece follows a responsible, patriotic and realistic foreign policy while strengthening its deterrent power. He said Greece seeks friendly relations with its neighbors, free of tension or provocation, based on international law and the Law of the Sea.
He then drew a clear red line, saying Greece threatens no one but will not accept threats or instructions from anyone, and is ready to defend its national integrity and sovereign rights.
He described Kastellorizo as an emblematic place to state Greece's intention for a peaceful future closed to any revisionist ambitions, but open to mutual respect and legality.
New ferry route and free housing for workers
Mitsotakis added a subsidized weekly Blue Star Ferries route on the Piraeus-Rhodes-Kastellorizo line, strengthening the island's connection to mainland Greece and the Dodecanese. He said the route, requested by locals for a Wednesday sailing, would now begin.
He also announced that, following contact with the management of HELLENiQ ENERGY, the company would fully rebuild old houses on the island to provide free housing for doctors, teachers, coast guard officers and other public workers.
The plan also includes finishing infrastructure projects that had been pending for decades: restoring the main harbor, building desalination units, a new sewage network, a biological treatment plant and a water supply network.
Looking back to the 2010 memorandum announcement
Mitsotakis said these were not random or isolated measures but pieces of a single policy showing there are no second-class citizens.
He recalled 2010, when Kastellorizo was chosen as the setting for the announcement of Greece's entry into its bailout memorandums, delivered from the island by then Prime Minister George Papandreou. Mitsotakis said he knew how much that image had saddened people, calling it a connection the island did not deserve, and said things were now different, both on Kastellorizo and across Greece.
Marking the anniversary he said had shaped the island's fate, Mitsotakis praised the people who kept Kastellorizo alive through repeated hardships, calling it a remote rock that weathered a thousand waves without ever bending, its history tied to that of the whole country.
He said no trial is insurmountable where there is unity, faith, courage and persistence, adding that Kastellorizo is not just another Greek island but is etched deep into every Greek. He said the island's legacy of pride defines Greece's duty toward it today, citing measures already in place including a permanent 30% cut to value-added tax, zero property tax, fuel subsidies, and incentives for public employees and businesses that invest and create jobs on the island.
Mitsotakis said dialogue is a choice made from confidence and faith in international law, and that the message sent from Kastellorizo, also known as Megisti, extends beyond national borders because its territory is also European. He said it reflects the national line Greece has followed since 2019, producing concrete results in defense, diplomacy, the economy and social cohesion.
