Sources of the Ministry of National Defense of Greece give a harsh response to Ankara, responding to allegations by the Turkish Ministry of Defense about the tension that occurred off Kasos with an Italian research ship.

No “respect” was shown, or will be demonstrated in the future, by the Greek Armed Forces in illegal actions of Turkey in the legally demarcated Greece-Egypt zone, as the Constitution of the Hellenic Republic provides and imposes.

Regarding the Italian-flagged ship, the sources of the Turkish Ministry of National Defense stated the following to the Turkish media: “On July 22, the vessel in question was warned not to enter our Maritime Jurisdiction Zone and was intercepted by our ships. Later, as a result of the coordination that took place, it was given permission to perform operations at the designated coordinates and left our continental shelf, completing its activity under the escort of the ships of our Naval Forces.”

The Turkish media made provocative claims on Friday about the tension set up by Ankara in front of Kasos. Turkey appears to have attempted to take advantage of the Italian ship’s investigations in order to challenge Greek sovereign rights, cancel the demarcated Greek EEZ under the Greek-Egyptian agreement and consolidate the Turkish-Libyan memorandum.

“Greece recognized our continental shelf” and “we gave Greece a license in the Eastern Mediterranean” is typically mentioned in Turkish headlines. “Greece, which tried in every way to make the world accept its claim that the continental shelf in the Aegean is 12 miles, was faced with an unexpected situation in the Eastern Mediterranean,” the Turkish media also report.

The provocative headlines come in the wake of the reports of Turkey’s National Security Council on the Cyprus, Aegean and Mediterranean Seas which met under the chairmanship of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

With reference to the developments in the Aegean and the Mediterranean, in the seventh paragraph of the announcement it is noted that during the meeting of the Turkish National Council: “It was emphasized that our constructive approach, which prioritizes dialogue on the issues of the Aegean and the Mediterranean, will not allowed to be exploited and pointed out that the uncompromising practice of defending our rights and interests will continue.

The issue of the Turkish-Libyan memorandum was mentioned on Thursday by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, confirming Turkish intransigence.