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| Alexis Tsipras (right) will host Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) |
International Military - The conflict involving Greece and Turkey is heating up. Recently, Greece warned Turkey that it was reaching the limits of restraint and patience. It followed a period of intense Turkish provocations, including overflights and demands to demilitarize the Greek islands.
"We will do whatever it takes to defend and protect our full sovereign rights. We are getting closer to our limit. The limits of our restraint and patience," Greek Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos told an international audience on Monday 6 June 2022.
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Reporting from the Greek Reporter, speaking at the annual GLOBSEC security conference held in Bratislava, Slovakia, Panagiotopoulos expressed Greece's frustration in dealing with Turkey, which is considered a NATO ally. “We find it odd to have an ally imposing a threat of war on us if we choose to exercise one of our legal rights under international law to extend our territorial waters more than six miles. Threat of war from one ally against another? I don't want to have an ally like that," he said.
He added that he didn't want to have allies making forty plus overflights every day. “Not only attacks in our airspace, but also flights over inhabited areas. Sometimes the overflights last overnight. I wonder for what reason," asked Panagiotopoulos.
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“It also seems strange to have allies calling for the demilitarization of our islands, for what reason? That if they weren't demilitarized, they were up for grabs? Of whom? Are we going to lose them to someone else?” he wondered.
"This is not only an unacceptable situation but completely absurd," said Panagitopoulos. Greece is bracing for prolonged tensions with Turkey following PM Kyriakos Mitotakis' recent visit to the US.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has escalated the heat with personal attacks on Mitsotakis, increased flights over Greek islands and a cargo of migrant boats sailing for Greece.
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Speaking in Davos in late May, Mitsotakis vowed to defend Greece amid rising Turkish revisionism. Meanwhile, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, June 1, 2022, that Turkey was stopping talks with Greece.
This was allegedly due to a dispute with the Greek prime minister over what Ankara called an airspace violation. The case marks the latest reversal in the neighbors' long-standing relations.
Last year, after a five-year gap, the two NATO members resumed talks to resolve their differences on the Mediterranean Sea and other bilateral issues. The talks made little progress and the countries often clashed with each other.
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Erdogan said Turkey had canceled its bilateral cooperation platform, dubbed the High-Level Strategic Council, with Greece. He added in a speech to lawmakers from the ruling party that Ankara wanted a foreign policy of "strong character".
"You keep showing us with your planes," Erdogan said, referring to a dispute over airspace over islands in the Aegean Sea. "What are you doing? Calm yourself down. Haven't you learned a lesson from history?" said Erdoan.
The number one person in Turkey asked the Greeks not to mess with their country. "Don't try to 'dance' with Turkey. You'll get tired and stuck on the road. We are no longer holding bilateral talks with them. Greece will see no reason," he said.
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The countries have long been at loggerheads over issues such as maritime boundaries, overlapping claims to the continental shelf, airspace, migrants and ethnically divided Cyprus.