Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar slams his Greek counterpart Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, his statements against Turkey.
Turkey’s National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has criticized his Greek counterpart Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos’ remarks against Turkey. Akar said: “Greece continues its provocative, lawless, irreconcilable, and escalating stance that does not even comply with the agreements it has signed.”
The minister stated that Turkey is based on international law, dialogue and good neighbour relations in solving problems. He also stressed that Turkey’s position and its contribution to NATO are undeniable.
Akar said:
“Greece, which does not abandon the discourse of international law and accuses Turkey of being a country that does not respect international law at every opportunity, continues its provocative, unlawful, uncompromising and escalating attitude despite all of the positive and constructive efforts of Turkey. In addition, Greece stubbornly opposes even our joint training centre, which we offer to NATO with our national resources and which is supported by the allies, on simple grounds. Moreover, to justify these actions, it makes negative and provocative statements that are far from the truth. The essence of the matter is that the exercises carried out by Greece for provocation, the arming of the islands with non-military status in violation of the agreements, and the unreasonable and illegal demands in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean increase the tension. Despite the explicit provisions of the 1923 Lausanne and 1947 Paris peace treaties, against whom and why are the islands with the non-military status being armed? The provisions of the treaty are clear and our interlocutors know them very well.”
“We sincerely believe that the problems should be resolved through dialogue”
Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar stated that Greece claims 10 miles of airspace despite 6 nautical miles of territorial waters and that Greece has a passion for armament.
Akar said:
“It is neither legal nor moral to try to turn their current problems into the problems of third parties such as Turkey-EU, Turkey-U.S., Turkey-NATO etc. We sincerely believe that the Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean and Cyprus problems should be resolved through dialogue and we strive for this. We are aware that we are right in terms of international law, bilateral law and the historical process, and therefore we are very comfortable. Our strength stems from this rightfulness.”
