Hulusi Akar refers to the visits of Greek officials to the islands as provocative

Defence Redefined

Published on 09/02/2021 at 16:06

“Greek officials have made 78 visits to the islands located next to us. These are provocations. Since you are talking about friendship, then demilitarize the islands,” said Turkish Defence Minister, Hulusi Akar, calling the visits of Greek officials to the Greek islands “provocative.”

In a television interview, the Turkish Foreign Minister also stated that “the Greeks have militarized 16 of the 23 islands that should be demilitarized, despite the Lausanne and Paris Treaties. I asked the German Minister of Defence, who has expansionist aspirations? There is no other country in the world that has 6 miles of territorial waters and 10 miles of airspace.”

Hulusi Akar claimed that “a Greek Minister told a German Minister that ‘we have reached the brink of war with Turkey three times so far’. We have no thoughts, no plans,” said Hulusi Akar. 

On the issue of the S-400s, he proposes the ‘Crete model’, i.e. the storage and use of the system only in case of emergency. “It does not mean that we will continue to use these systems. They will only be used in the event of a threat and that is up to us,” he said.

Regarding the new US President, Joe Biden, Hulusi Akar said “we expect them to act in accordance with the law, the agreements and a realistic policy,” he said, adding that the latest statement by US Ambassador to Ankara, David Sutherfield, was “unfortunate and unfounded”.

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