Deputy Minister of Defence Nikos Hardalias was photographed on the island of Oinousses with the backdrop of the Turkish coast during his recent visit to the northeastern Aegean, sending a portion of the Turkish media into a frenzy, as they accused him of provoking Turkey.

“Greece did military exercises on our occupied island,” reads the headline of an article in Sozcu newspaper, commenting that the Greek Deputy Minister “posed with Smyrna (Izmir) in the background.”

In a similar tone of indignation, Yeni Safak news outlet characteristically states: “Greece is again provoking: It carried out an exercise under the nose of Turkey and took poses with Smyrna in the background”.

Yunanistan, Türk toprağı olan Koyun Adası’nda tatbikat yaptı. Savunma Bakan Yardımcısı Hardalias, adada arkasında İzmir görünecek şekilde poz vererek bu kareyi sosyal medya hesabından paylaştı: Her ada, her küçük ada, her kayalık adacık, bir Yunan yurdu. Her yerdeyiz.

— Yeni Şafak (@yenisafak) October 7, 2021

Nikos Hardalias was recently present at the frontier island of Oinousses, in the context of monitoring military activities of the large-scale national interdisciplinary exercise “Parmenion 21”. He was photographed with officers and infantry soldiers next to a Greek flag on a pole.

Yunanistan, uluslararası hukuka göre Türk toprağı olan Koyun Adası’nda tatbikat yaptı. Tatbikatı adada izleyen Savunma Bakan Yardımcısı Hardalias, arkada İzmir görünecek şekilde poz verdi. https://t.co/SJ82XHJQ0U pic.twitter.com/VA6ez42oe6

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The provocative Turkish publications host statements by the former Secretary of the Turkish Ministry of Defence retired Colonel Umit Yalim, who claimed that: “Greece continues to ignore international law in the Aegean Sea and the demilitarisation regime” which, according to him, are laid out in international treaties and conventions. He went so far as to claim that Greece “does not own these islands, but only the right to manage them,” a position that was officially expressed recently by Turkey at the UN.