Mevlut Cavusoglu made new provocative statements on the Greek islands on Tuesday afternoon during a press conference with his counterpart of North Macedonia.
According to a report by protothema.gr, the Turkish foreign minister stressed that “the sovereignty over the Greek islands with a demilitarized status will be discussed if Greece continues its violations,” and added that Greek politicians have an inferiority complex.
“Greece continues to militarize the islands. We have sent two letters with our stances to the United Nations. If Greece continues its violations on islands with demilitarized status, then their sovereignty will be discussed. Because they cannot respond legally, they get nervous, they give stupid answers, they demagogue. They say Turkey wants to take our islands, Greek politicians have an inferiority complex. I do not make attacks on Greece every day. Our people have no such expectations. If this situation continues, the sovereignty over the islands will be discussed,” he said.
Ankara distorts the facts: Turkey claims that Greece has committed 953 violations
New provocative reports on Greece in the Aegean, this time from the spokeswoman of the Turkish Defense Ministry, as part of a briefing on Turkey’s operations since the beginning of the year.
According to what Burtsu Nalits Yokuva said, “Turkish armed forces continue to protect the rights and interests of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the Aegean and the Mediterranean Sea.” while “despite Turkey’s well-intentioned and sincere approaches in the spirit of good neighbourliness and alliance relations, Greece has continued its escalating, aggressive rhetoric, provocations and illegal actions, left all calls for dialogue and talks unanswered and continued its baseless accusations”.
Yokuva continued, saying that Greece “continues to break the law on the islands of demilitarized status with its ships and aircrafts,” adding that Greece committed 953 violations in 2022, both at sea (316 by its naval ships) and in the air (637 by its aircrafts), and referred to 73 visits to these islands, 24 of which were made by the Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Defense Nikos Chardalias.
“Our wish is that Turks and Greeks live in peace, prosperity, security and fair exploitation of the region’s wealth. The Aegean is a sea of friendship between Turkey and Greece,” the Turkish Defense Ministry spokeswoman said, referring again to “co-exploitation”, while she reiterated Ankara’s stance on the Cyprus issue, saying that the only solution for the island is “two sovereign, equal and independent states”.