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Yesterday, Turkey accused Greece of “lying” to evade dialogue, after Athens denied talks in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) with Ankara on de-escalation in the eastern Mediterranean.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said during a press conference in Ankara: “It is not the Secretary General of NATO who is lying, but Greece. This shows the true face of Greece (…) it does not want dialogue ”. Greece denied on Thursday that it had agreed to hold NATO-sponsored talks with Turkey to reduce tensions over maritime borders and gas exploration rights.
According to the Turkish minister, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg contacted the parties and obtained their green light before announcing the talks.
“He who thinks he is right does not avoid dialogue,” he said. Greece knows it is wrong. And European countries know it too ”, and he adds:“ We are always ready for dialogue, but without preconditions ”.
Davutoglu also attacked France, accusing it of “encouraging” Greece and acting “hysterically.”
“We advise France to abandon this ineffective position,” he said. We are part of NATO. France should come and discuss with us how to work together. “Such a position would be in everyone’s interest.”
The level of tension has risen dramatically in the context of Turkish exploration activities, which Greece and Cyprus indicate violate their sovereignty.
Later, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed that Turkey should stop launching its “threats” against Greece in order to reduce tension between Ankara and Athens.
“Let us put aside the threats over the possibility of initiating contacts,” Mitsotakis said in Athens on the occasion of the visit of a senior Chinese Communist Party official.
For his part, Cypriot President Nikos Anastasiades yesterday condemned Turkey and called for talks to resolve a dispute over maritime borders and gas exploration rights, warning that escalating tension in the Mediterranean threatens to destabilize the entire region.
“There is aggression, with the intention of really controlling the entire region,” Anastasiades said in an interview with Agence France-Presse. Therefore, we are witnessing an increase in tension and the resulting situation is very explosive and raises concern ”.
Anastasiades said his fragmented island is facing a “very dangerous situation” and condemned Ankara for what he called “provocations” and “violations of international law” that violate Cyprus’s “exclusive economic zone”. He warned that Ankara “endangers the stability and security of the entire region.”
“Turkey’s continued illegal exploration operations … have led to the intensification of the militarization of our neighborhood,” he said in the interview held at the presidential palace in Nicosia.
But amid fears of open conflict, Anastasiades stressed that if the United Nations and the international community take the necessary measures, “we can avoid further escalation.”
The Cypriot president stressed that his country does not want to impose sanctions on Turkey.
“Sanctions are not our goal,” he said. Our goal is that through dialogue we can reach a settlement that is fully compatible with what is stipulated in international law ”.
He urged Turkey to agree to submit the case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague or to international arbitration.
“They must realize that they must respect international law and not interpret international law in accordance with their expansionist approach,” Anastasiades said.
The Cypriot president also praised France’s “firm stance” during the current crisis, saying that Paris was “a pioneering voice of what Europe must do to protect member states from this aggression.”
(AFP)
