ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st June, 2022) Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Tuesday that he had asked the leaders of the European Union to consider Turkey's latest "provocations" at the next summit in June.
"I had an opportunity to brief my counterparts on escalation of Turkey's aggression in recent weeks. I reiterated that such provocations, such bluster cannot be tolerated neither by Greece, nor by the European Union. And I requested that this issue be discussed again at the next Council in June if Turkey insists on this absurd and dead-end strategy. And there should be a clear reference to the Council's conclusions with an obvious and explicit condemnation of this latest, completely needless Turkish provocation," Mitsotakis told a briefing following the EU extraordinary summit in Brussels.
Turkey has insisted that its actions were in response to Greece's active engagement with the United States, which Mitsotakis regarded as unacceptable, citing Athens's right to ensure its national security.
"What happened last month, starting with the squall of flights (of Turkish warplanes) over the Aegean islands, was completely unprovoked and completely unjustified. And if Turkey might have been concerned about my visit to the United States, about my speech in Congress, that is its own business, but either way everyone should understand that Greece has allies," he said.
The prime minister also noted that Greece belongs to the European family, enjoys strategic relations with the US, and obviously is "entitled and obliged to use its alliances to protect its own national interests."
Answering the question about how German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reacted to the Blue Homeland map, according to which Turkey claims a significant part of the continental shelf and waters in the Aegean and Mediterranean seas, Mitsotakis said that he had explained to Scholz the inconsistency of equal distance tactics against a country that "constantly threatens an EU member and has EU candidate status." He added that the German chancellor "understood the magnitude of the problem."
