Turkey lays claim to Greek islands: Erdogan's foreign minister is now following suit

Created: 06/12/2022, 04:47

Turkey indirectly claims Greek islands and makes serious allegations.

Now the Turkish foreign minister followed suit.

Ankara - Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavusoglu has again accused Greece of militarily arming islands in the Aegean in violation of international law.

Against this background, Turkey has already started to question the sovereignty of the islands.

Greece is "very successful" in complaining even though they are wrong, according to the minister under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Greece has deployed military units and weapons systems on several islands in the East Aegean.

Turkey threatens Greece - and questions the sovereignty of several islands

The situation between neighboring countries and NATO members has been tense for weeks.

Ankara argues that Greece is violating the Treaties of Lausanne (1923) and Paris (1947) by militarizing the islands.

Athens justifies the militarization with a threat from Ankara and the right of every state to self-defense.

The head of the ultra-nationalist party MHP - partner of the ruling AKP - spoke last week of twelve islands that had been "stolen" from Turkey and had to be returned to their rightful owners.

Devlet Bahceli accused Greece of allowing tensions to escalate and said: "The Greeks are playing with fire".

He even threatened violence if the islands were not returned voluntarily.

The Dodecanese archipelago in the East Aegean consists of twelve main islands - including the tourist islands of Rhodes and Kos.