Turkish Defence Minister Hu.usi Akar once more commented on Greece’s upgraded weapons programme calling once again for the demilitarisation of the Aegean islands.
Speaking during the “Blue Homeland” military exercise, part of Turkey’s an expansionist-revisionist doctrine, the Minister of Defence stated that “the Treaty of Lausanne says that the specific islands must be demilitarised. There is an agreement, everyone agreed upon. These islands are specific, their name is their coordinates, their locations. You [Greece] have militarised these islands, 16 of them. They tell us ‘let’s not talk about it’…. But why not? If we are talking about international law, we will start with this issue”.
“When these islands are militarised, then no one has the right to speak out against Turkey’s defensive efforts,” Hulusi Akar added.
Akar appeared similarly bellicose in an interview he gave to the television network Haberturk. This time his position concerned the armament programme of Greece, noting that they are enough for the defence, but they are not enough if they are aimed at Turkey.
“Greece is trying to create some alliances. But we are already allies in NATO. Also, in an exaggerated way, they are pushing their armament programmes. We say that if these armaments are for their defense there are sufficient, but if they are aimed at Turkey then they are not enough… Let us clarify this. Their financial situation is also a given”, the Turkish Minister of Defence emphasised.
“We tell them that they will make a big mistake if they overreach carried away by some instructions or egging on from the EU of some countries. We make it clear that we will not allow any fait accompli and we are capable of that,” he concluded.
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