“I wouldn’t worry too much about the maps”, was the response of the US Ambassador to Athens Geoffrey Pyatt, expressing Washington’s support for Greece, indirectly but clearly responding to the new provocative action by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

A day before a photograph was released of the Turkish President in front of a map at the National Defense University, showing what the Turks call the “Blue Homeland”, which is what Ankara perceives to be the sea areas around Turkey where they claim to be rightfully their own. In the map it was clearly visible that the eastern Aegean Greek islands had been included too.

“Greek sovereignty is unquestionable and certainly recognized by the United States”, Mr Pyatt stressed, answering journalists questions at the sidelines of a press conference on the United States participation in the 2019 Thessaloniki International Fair.

Already, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias has told the Turkish side that “the borders of the states are not defined by any map that everyone wants to draw, but by international law”.