Greece’s new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, the leader of leftist Syriza, is a grandson of a family who had moved to Greece from Turkey’s northwestern province of Kırklareli, a local newspaper published in the northwestern province of Edirne has claimed.

Hudut daily reported on Thursday that forty-year-old Tsipraz is originally from Turkey. Claiming that Tsipraz is the grandchild of a family who used to reside in Babaeski village of Kırklareli before moving to Greece, the daily said that the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP) Edirne provincial head Nevzat Çolak had met with Tsipras while he paid a visit to Edirne in 2010 for a special occasion.

Citing Çolak, the daily reported that Tsipraz had told Çolak that he was originally from a village in Kırklareli and that he felt he was home when he was in northwestern Turkey.

In his interview with the daily, Çolak also praised Tsipras, describing him as a cheerful and down-to earth personality.

Source: Daily Sabah