As reported by SKAI correspondent Manolis Kostidis, Erdogan appeared with threatening rhetoric and once again questioned the sovereignty regime in the Aegean islands, saying that Kyriakos Mitsotakis does not know that they were given a demilitarized regime
Crescendo of provocation at the expense of Greece and yesterday by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who launched new direct threats to the Greek islands.
In an interview on Monday night on the TRT channel, as broadcast from Istanbul by the SKAI correspondent, Manolis Kostidis, The Turkish president once again questioned the sovereignty regime in the Aegean islands, saying that the Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Greece do not know that the demilitarized regime was given as a condition, but they will find out…
He also said that with the moves Athens is making, it violates both the Treaty of Lausanne and the Treaty of Paris.
Specifically, Erdogan said yesterday: “These activities of Greece that are against good neighborliness are also against the Treaties of Lausanne and Paris. That is, what are we to do, when they violate the Lausanne and Paris Treaties, to sit with our hands tied and say ‘do whatever you want’? When the time comes, we will do the right thing. Mitsotakis does not know that the sovereignty of these islands was granted on the condition that they be demilitarized. I think he will find out.”
Relations with the USA
The Turkish president also said: “In Greece there are 5+4, i.e. a total of 9, US bases. There were 5 and they opened 4 more. When we tell them this, they deny it. Now they are making efforts to install them on the islands. They claim that their installation is against Russia. We said to them ‘who are you kidding?’ You have neither the power nor the will to do this. Because even the US can’t do that.”
Erdogan also accused Greece of obstructing Turkey to buy fighter jets: “Greece is trying to prevent us from buying fighters for our security needs. He is putting pressure on the US, France and other countries and telling them ‘don’t give them to Turkey’.”
Asked how he assesses the conditions set by Greece for the purchase of F-16s from the USA replied: “This is strange. Hulusi Pasha (Akar) immediately made a statement. For Turkey, these conditions do not apply. It’s not possible.
In our meeting with Biden in Madrid, we spoke very positively about these issues. And we talked about bilateral relations and exchanged views on regional issues. And when he came back he said positive things. Then, wherever it came from, the issues concerning Greece came to the fore.”
And he concluded: “As long as the US government shows its support for this matter, we see how the Greek and Greek Cypriot lobbies and some circles in Congress are accelerating their efforts to prevent the granting of F-16s to Turkey.”
Contact Austin with Akar
Besides, as reported by Manolis Kostidis, yesterday there was a telephone conversation between the American Minister of Defense, Lloyd Austin, and his Turkish counterpart, Hulusi Akar, during which there was a discussion about the American F-16s and the Greek-Turkish ones.
Last week the Greek Minister of Defense Nikos Panagiotopoulos had a meeting in Washington with Lloyd Austin and the US intervention in Turkey was requested for Greek-Turkish affairs.
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