Turkey continued its bellicose stance towards Greece, the country’s Defence Minister Hukusi Akar warned in an interview to Hurriyet that any plans to exploit natural resources in Cyprus, the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean would move ahead only if Turkey participated in them.

A few days after his phone call with his Greek counterpart Nikos Panagiotopoulos to determine the next moves between Greece and Turkey on the confidence building measures between the two sides, Akar claimed Greece’s attitude was an hampering any efforts to to solve the problems that existed in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean.

“Greece’s approach to these issues makes it difficult to resolve them at a common level. It has militarised 16 of the 23 islands since 1936 and violated the agreements. On the other hand, in an unprecedented way in the world and in history, it claims that its airspace is 10 miles while its territorial waters reach 6 miles. This is not reasonable, “Akar said, on issues in the Aegean.