world
April 15, 2021 – 23:30

While something else was expected, the joint press conference between the Foreign Ministers of Greece and Turkey, following the visit of Greek Chief Diplomat Dendias to Ankara, took place amid a tense dialogue and bilateral accusations in front of the cameras.

The remarks began after Mr Cavousoglou, who stressed that issues dividing the two countries could be resolved through constructive dialogue, later referred to the Muslim minority in Thrace, whom he called Turks.

Dendias: For us – I must say this – there is a Muslim minority in Greece. This is recognized by the Treaty of Lausanne, this is the official view of the Greek state.

Cavusoglou: In his statement, Nikos Dendias unfortunately made some extremely unacceptable accusations against my country. He said Turkey violates Greece’s sovereign rights. It is not possible for us to accept this.

Dendias: I would be very impressed if you expected, dear Mevlüt, to come here to Ankara and present things as if nothing had happened in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean. Greece’s position is clear: Turkey has violated International Law and the Convention on the Law of the Sea in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean. And not only that, it has violated the sovereign rights of Greece.

Has made over 400 flights over Greek territory

Mevlüt. There is no legal provision allowing flying over Greek territory. I’m not talking about the sea.
The intervention of Mr. followed again. Cavusoglu, who spoke about human rights violations by Greece, while stressing that Ankara does not want to mention the over 80,000 push-backs of refugees at sea by Greek guards.

Cavusoglou: Turkey is obliged to defend its rights, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean and those of the Turkish Cypriots; all the steps we take are aimed at protecting our rights.

Dendias: We are really looking for a positive agenda. This is the solution.

But a positive agenda means perceiving the other’s position. You raised two Mevlüt issues: The demilitarization of the islands. Why is there an army on the islands? There are because they are threatened by someone. The army costs money. We do not want to spend money for no reason. Is there anyone claiming at the moment that there is no military threat and landing force in front of the islands? If not here’s a new product just for you!
The two diplomats then realized that they could go on for hours in front of the cameras with accusations against each other, so they closed the tense meeting to attend a dinner hosted by the Greek delegation. Dendias, who invited his counterpart for a visit to Athens, also met for 45 minutes with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

world
April 09, 2021 – 00:05

The protocol incident involving European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who was left without a chair by President Erdogan during a meeting with the two EU leaders at the presidential palace in Ankara, is growing. After Italian Prime Minister Draghi called the Turkish president’s behavior “inappropriate”, Ankara summoned the Italian ambassador.

Draghi used very harsh words against the Turkish leader, calling him a dictator.

“I absolutely do not agree with Erdogan, I think it was not an appropriate behavior. I was very sorry for the humiliation that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had to suffer. With these dictators, let us call them to what is necessary, however, we must be sincere in expressing the diversity of views and visions of society; and we must also be willing to cooperate to secure the interests of the country. “You have to find the right balance,” said the Italian prime minister.

Following these statements, Turkey has summoned the Italian ambassador to Ankara, Massimo Gaiani.

“We strongly condemn the uncontrolled claims of Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi about our President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan,” said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Meanwhile, EC President Charles Michel, expressing regret for what happened in Turkey, explained why he did not intervene: “I did not react because I thought it would cause a more serious accident.” / A2cnn