Turkey lays claim to the Greek island of Rhodes: Erdogan's companion threatens violence

Created: 2022-06-07 04:57

Greek territory, Turkish ambitions: the holiday island of Kalymnos, part of the Dodecanese.

© CSP_karapas/Imago

The next trouble spot - in the holiday paradise.

The tone between Greece and Turkey suddenly becomes rougher.

Turkish nationalists are now laying claim to the Aegean islands of Rhodes and Kos.

Athens – Devlet Bahceli, 74, has been party leader of the Turkish nationalist MHP party since 1997, junior partner in the “People’s Alliance” electoral alliance with the ruling neo-Ottoman AKP party since 2018 and a loyal companion of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

So when he says something, it carries weight.

And he sharply attacked Greece.

He asserted territorial claims to the Dodecanese group of islands in the East Aegean.

Turkey lays claim to islands in Greece: Aegean around Rhodes and Kos in focus

“Greece is escalating tensions in the Mediterranean and Aegean.

The Greeks are playing with fire,” said Bahceli.

“The nine military bases that the US has set up in Greece are a threat to our national identity.” Greece's request for F-15 and F-16 aircraft from the US is “not an invitation to peace, but to polarization “.

Specifically, the Turkish government politician targeted the Dodecanese group of islands in the East Aegean.

As the Greek name suggests, it consists of twelve main islands.

There are also 14 other inhabited islands and a large number of smaller uninhabited islands.

They have all belonged to Greece since 1948.

A total of around 200,000 people live there.

More than half of them are based on Rhodes, another 35,000 on Kos, destinations for millions of tourists.

Turkey demands "stolen objects" from Greece: Bahceli threatens violence

"The question of the Dodecanese, which is the continuation of Anatolia, is a wound that has not yet closed," said Bahceli.

He laments "tricks and injustices against Turkey".

And concludes: "The stolen items must be returned to the owner, whether voluntarily or by force."

Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reiterated Turkey's position that a number of Greek islands in the East Aegean should be demilitarized: "Greece has been militarizing the islands since 1960 under the pretext of a threat from Turkey.

The islands must be demilitarized.

If Greece doesn't back down, we will raise the issue of the sovereignty of these islands," Cavusoglu said.

Greece rejects Turkey's demands as "historically and under international law unfounded".

The statements made by Bahceli and Cavusoglu made waves in Greece.

Representatives of the government in Athens under the conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis rejected them as "historically and under international law unfounded".

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Greece and Turkey jointly joined NATO on February 18, 1952 and have thus been part of the defense alliance for over 70 years.

Recently, however, violations of Greek airspace by Turkish fighter jets have increased drastically.

Furthermore, in the summer of 2020, the ongoing dispute between Athens and Ankara over significant gas deposits in the eastern Mediterranean almost led to a military conflict after Turkish research ships had been crossing Greek waters for weeks.

Turkey is also concerned about recent arms purchases by Greece, including the acquisition of state-of-the-art warplanes and frigates.