DM Monitoring
Athens: Greece maintains its unlawful, uncompromising attitude that leads to escalations in tensions, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said as he urged Athens to abandon its maximalist policies and provocative actions while underlining the need for discourse for peace and stability.
Reacting to Greek Defense Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopulos’ recent remarks about Turkey, Akar told Anadolu Agency (AA): “Greece continues its provocative, unlawful, uncompromising and escalating stance that does not even abide by the agreements it has signed.”
At a panel, Panagiotopulos alleged that Turkey had acted against international law and that the country could potentially destabilize the entire region.
Akar noted that Panagiotopulos’ comments do not reflect the recent constructive talks between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and efforts to reduce tensions during the summer period.
“We invite my esteemed colleague to think and speak in a reasonable, logical, fair and objective manner, far from selfishness, sentimentality, within the framework of treaties between our countries, international law and good neighborly relations,” Akar said, highlighting that Turkey is an important country that contributes to peace and stability even in a geography like the Middle East.
Explaining that Turkey’s approach to solving problems is based on international law, dialogue and good neighborly relations, Akar said: “Turkey’s position and its contribution to NATO are undeniable.”
“Greece, which does not abandon the discourse of international law and accuses Turkey of being a country that does not respect international law at every opportunity, continues its provocative, unlawful, uncompromising and escalating attitude despite all of the positive and constructive efforts of Turkey.
In addition, Greece stubbornly opposes even our joint training center, which we offer to NATO with our national resources and which is supported by the allies, on simple grounds.
