ANKARA
The victory of Syriza has positively contributed to regional politics, said experts at a panel in Ankara on Wednesday.
The Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research Institute, or SETA, a Turkish think tank, organized a panel discussion on "Syriza's Victory and After: The Future of Greece and Europe."
The left-wing Syriza party won the Jan. 25 Greek parliamentary elections with just over 35 percent of the votes.
The leader of the anti-austerity party Syriza, 40-year-old Alexis Tsipras, won a historic victory in the election, and quickly formed a coalition with the smaller Independent Greeks party which also opposes Greece's EU and IMF aid program.
Tsipras said that the government would seek a bridge loan agreement with the Troika -- International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank -- to provide liquidity for the banking system until a new agreement could be made.
Speaking at the panel, Ioannis Grigoriadis, an academic at Bilkent University, said the politics of austerity had found its most extreme manifestation in Greece.
Saying Syriza emerged over the last few years, Grigoriadis said, "It made a positive contribution to EU politics and the future of the European Union because it has finally brought politics back into the picture."
Another academic at Bilkent University, Dimitris Tsarouhas, said that although Syriza came from the periphery of the political spectrum, many of its ideas are not peripheral.
"Syriza was able to highlight the idea of hope. Hope was given to the Greek people," Tsarouhas added.
The head of Ankara-based think-tank Center for Strategic Research Ali Resul Usul said, "I am not sure whether Syriza will change European political dynamics, but it is clear that from now Syriza has already been an inspiration to all European parties."
