Greece’s Foreign Ministry has slammed what it called Turkey’s ‘repeated threats of war’ in an official statement on Wednesday.
The statement came after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday said if Greece does not demilitarise the Aegean islands, then Turkey will either challenge their sovereignty or will “suddenly arrive overnight.”
In response, Greece’s foreign ministry said that Turkey’s “repeated threats of war” were “completely unacceptable,” and noted that Greece respects international law and the United Nations’ Law of the Sea.
“The statements of Turkish officials regarding the demilitarisation of the Aegean islands have been repeatedly rejected in their entirety by a series of arguments,” the statement reads.
“The questioning of the sovereignty of the Greek islands and the increase in tension in the Aegean, through the threats of war, have been condemned in their entirety also by the international community.”
Turkey insists the deployment of soldiers or weapons on eastern Aegean Greek islands near its coast violates the islands’ non-military status according to international law. Greece counters that it needs to defend them against a potential attack from Turkey.
These latest statements come as tensions between Greece and Turkey in recent years, particularly over exploratory drilling rights in areas of the Mediterranean Sea where Greece and Cyprus claim exclusive economic zones.
Source: AP News.
