“The announcement of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs politicizes a purely environmental issue. The global challenge of protecting the environment should raise awareness among governments, not be used to create impressions,” he says. the announcement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responding to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs which earlier in his statement raised issue questioning the Greek sovereignty of the Greek islands on the occasion of the marine parks in the Aegean and the Ionian.

The announcement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

“The announcement of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs politicizes a purely environmental issue. The universal challenge of protecting the environment should raise awareness among governments, not be used to create impressions.

The Greek Government will continue to unwaveringly support the sovereignty and sovereign rights of the country within the framework of foreign policy principles. Based on international law and, in particular, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which Greece is a party. The practice of transactional diplomacy and the use of hybrid means for geopolitical benefits are not peculiar to Greek foreign policy.”

Marinakis: “The actions of the Greek government are planned with the aim of protecting the environment and nothing else”

Speaking to ERT earlier today and referring to the issue, the government representative, Pavlos Marinaki he repeated that “Turkey is politicizing a purely environmental issue”.

“Greece pursues a foreign policy without any intention of retreating to its sovereign rights and based on International Law,” said the government representative and added that we are talking about something environmental.

“The actions of the Greek government are planned with the aim of protecting the environment and nothing else” underlined Mr. Marinakis and pointed out that “we also hope that the determination of the EEZ and the continental shelf with Turkey will be resolved on the basis of International Law. Turkey is badly politicizing the issue.”

Asked about preparations for the visit of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to Turkey in May, he said that planning is progressing.

“We are not naive, we evaluate each action separately and there is no inclination to retreat from our sovereign rights,” clarified Mr. Marinakis.

Turkey raises the issue of questioning the Greek sovereignty of the islands

In a statement issued by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it raised the issue of questioning the Greek sovereignty of the islands on the occasion of Athens’ announcements for the creation of two marine parks in the Aegean and the Ionian. According to what was reported by SKAI’s correspondent in Istanbul, Manolis Kostidis, in a statement the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs points out that “in the Aegean there are islands that have not been transferred to Greece”.

The announcement of the Turkish Foreign Ministry in detail

“With today’s announcement, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it will declare two new Marine Parks, one in the Aegean and the other in the Ionian Sea, within the framework of the Oceans Conference to be held in Athens.

It is known that Greece has long been trying to take advantage of almost every platform in the context of the Aegean problems. Despite the recent softening of our relations, it seems that Greece is taking advantage of environmental issues this time.

We recommend Greece not to use the problems of the Aegean and the issues concerning the status of certain islands, islets and islets whose sovereignty has not been transferred to Greece by international agreements.

We would like to warn third parties, including the EU, not to become a tool for Greece’s political moves regarding its environmental programs.

On the other hand, we would like to remind you that international maritime law encourages cooperation, including environmental issues, between coastal states in enclosed or semi-enclosed seas and in this context, our country is always ready to cooperate with Greece in the Aegean.

On this occasion, we would like to point out again that we will not accept any actions that Greece may create in geographical formations whose status is disputed.

We repeat that the Marine Parks in question will not have any legal effect in the context of the problems between the two countries in the Aegean”.