Turkish Foreign Minister Melvut Cavusoglu said the ownership of the islets of Imia was not clearly defined by the Lausanne and Paris Treaties. His controversial statements were made in response to questions in the Turkish national assembly. Mr Cavusoglu underlined that there had been no de facto change in the status quo in islands of the Aegean Sea, while he warned those MPs criticising the Erdogan government that they were harming the national interests of Turkey on the sensitive issue.

As Turkish daily newspaper Hurriyet writes, the Turkish Foreign Minister stressed that “the ownership of Imia is not precisely defined either in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne or in the Paris Treaty in 1947”.

“There is no change in the current status of these Aegean islands after the Imia crisis in 1995. There are therefore tensions between Greece and Turkey”, he said.

As for drilling in the Cypriot EEZ, Cavusoglu said: “those who are dreaming of zero guarantees and zero troops in Cyprus, should wake up from their dream, and abandon it. Such a thing will never happen.”