Ankara warns Athens ought to keep away from ‘acts and statements that may lead to remorse’ as Turkey kicks off navy drills.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has demanded Greece cease arming Aegean Sea islands which have non-military standing and abide by worldwide agreements in remarks that might inflame long-standing disagreements between the 2 international locations.
“I warn Greece to keep away from goals, acts and statements that may lead to remorse. Come to your senses,” Erdogan mentioned on Thursday in a televised speech made as he noticed large-scale Turkish navy drills close to Izmir, on the nation’s western coast.
“Turkey is not going to resign its rights within the Aegean and won't again down from utilizing rights which are established by worldwide agreements relating to arming islands.”
Turkey alleges Greece has been constructing a navy presence on Aegean islands – lots of which lie near Turkey’s coast – in violation of treaties that decide they need to stay unarmed. It argues the islands had been ceded to Greece on the situation that they be saved demilitarised.
For its half, Greece claims Turkey has intentionally misinterpreted the treaties relating to armed forces on its japanese islands and says it has authorized grounds to defend itself within the face of what it describes as “hostile actions” by Ankara.
Tensions ‘escalating’ as drills kick off
Ankara and Athens have lengthy been at odds over a number of points together with maritime boundaries, overlapping claims over continental cabinets, airspace and the ethnically cut up Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
After a five-year hiatus, the 2 NATO members final 12 months resumed exploratory talks to deal with bilateral issues and lay the groundwork for formal negotiations to start. Nevertheless, the talks have made little progress thus far, with each international locations steadily buying and selling barbs.
Final week, Erdogan introduced Turkey was halting the discussions, partly over a dispute with the Greek prime minister and what Ankara calls airspace violations.
Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar, reporting from Izmir, mentioned pressure between the 2 international locations was “escalating” and famous the “delicate timing” of the EFES-2022 navy drills – one of many Turkish military’s largest workouts in years.
“There are 10,000 Turkish troops becoming a member of this navy train. It's a … mixed navy drill, that means the naval forces, air forces and land forces are concerned,” Serdar mentioned.
“And along with the Turkish troops there are greater than 1,000 overseas navy personnel coming from 37 international locations comparable to the US, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Qatar, Azerbaijan and Pakistan.”
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