Greece Rejects Turkey's Accusations Of Provocations, Threats - Reports

Umer Jamshaid Published February 02, 2023 | 03:30 PM

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd February, 2023) Greece rejects Turkish accusations of threatening and provoking Turkey, the Athens News Agency (AMNA) reported on Thursday, citing diplomatic sources.

According to media reports, Greece plans to extend its maritime boundaries from 6 to 12 miles to the south and west of Crete. Turkey said it would not allow Greece's waters to expand by even one mile into the Aegean Sea. On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Athens' position on Ankara was unacceptable and did not meet the spirit of partnership.

Commenting on Erdogan's statements, diplomatic sources told Greek news agency AMNA that Greece is defending its sovereignty, pursuing a policy based on international law.

"We reject in their entirety the baseless and unfounded Turkish arguments as we have done through our letters to the Secretary General of the UN," the sources were quoted as saying by the AMNA news agency.

They also noted that Turkey should realize that its image at the global and regional level is not positive, the sources said.

"It is the 'emerging profile' of a country that follows and implements a revisionist policy, threatens with war, challenges every rule of international law, blackmails and creates rifts in the alliances it belongs to, at a particularly critical moment for world peace," the sources said.

Turkey and Greece have been at odds for decades. Disputed issues include competing territorial claims in the Eastern Mediterranean, in particular in the region of the Aegean Sea, the Greek-Turkish divide in Cyprus, and the delimitation of maritime borders. Turkey has repeatedly accused Greece of deploying weapons on the Aegean islands in violation of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne.

Turkey believes that if Greece extends its territorial waters from the current 6 miles to 12 miles, it would practically cut off Turkish waters and deprive Turkey of access to international waters, and the country would be trapped in its territorial waters.