Turkish Minister of European Affairs, Omer Celik, claimed on Wednesday that the Greek island of Agathonisi in the Aegean Sea was …”Turkish”. Speaking to a Turkish television channel, Celik said that Agathonisi “belongs to Turkey. It’s Turkish land.”
Agathonisi is a small Greek island and municipality located at the northernmost point of the Dodecanese in Greece. It is surrounded by many smaller islands and is home to two villages. the island was ceded from Italy to Greece in 1947, together with the Dodecanese.
Referring to Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos who visited Agathonisi on Easter, Celik said “What the Greek defense minister did is not a serious act.”
The island of Agathonisi is the second after Imia openly but unfounded claimed by Ankara. Every time Panos Kammenos is visiting one of these Greek islets, Turkey gets furious and claims that they belonged to Turkey.
The Greek Foreign Ministry condemned the “ongoing revisionist policy of Turkey, which issues provocative statements disputing the internationally recognized borders as those were historically defined and established by international law, during the last century.”
The ministry said in a statement that it had denounced the claims “before the international community and the member states of the UN” adding that “it is deplorable that this time, international law was disputed by the Minister who is competent for Turkey’s accession to the European Union.”
On Wednesday, Athens called an emergency meeting of the Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defense (KYSEA). At the meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, it was decided that the NATO and other international organizations will be briefed on the ongoing Turkish aggressiveness. Members of KYSEA expressed their concerns about the Turkish policy but also about a possible ‘hot incident’ in the Aegean Sea.
Athens had interpreted the recent Turkish challenges as a tool used by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to win the referendum on April 16.
Erdogan won the referendum, the challenges remain.
Greece might have to re-consider the way it (mis)interprets Turkish foreign policy.
