Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias blamed the interpreter for his lukewarm reaction to the statement of his Turkish counterpart Melvut Cavusoglu who said “Whether it is your island, or my island? Such matters are not on the table when it concerns issues of rescue”.

According to Mr. Kotzias there was no such phrase during the interpretation “but I replied thinking that something like that might have been said, stressing that Greece is not a revisionist power, but we solve these issues on the basis of international law”.

Responding to critics of his lukewarm reaction, Mr. Kotzias replied that “we are not at an auditorium, we are not boxing, we are establishing international relations.”

“I do not think he said that the islands are in the ‘grey zones’. His intention was to avoid responding, he said a generality that Turks usually say and we object” Mr. Kotzias said.