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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the U.S. for its
stance regarding Türkiye-Greece tensions, saying that it has lost
its impartiality and cannot find an ally like Ankara, Trend reports citing
Daily
Sabah.
“The U.S. does not act fairly regarding NATO member-states. Both
Greece and Türkiye are NATO member states and Türkiye is in the top
five in terms of its contributions to the bloc,” the president told
a live interview on broadcaster CNN Türk.
He continued by saying that there is no comparison between
Türkiye and Greece’s standing in NATO, and Washington cannot find
another ally like Ankara.
Erdogan also said it is unacceptable for the U.S. to send
armored vehicles to the demilitarized islands.
“Our expectation from the U.S. is not to involve Greece in wrong
calculations and not to allow the manipulation of international
public opinion,” he added.
He also denounced Washington’s recent decision to lift an arms
embargo on the Greek Cypriot administration, terming it
“inexplicable in terms of content and timing.”
He said the move “will not go unanswered” and pledged to take
all necessary steps to protect Turkish Cypriots.
The president’s criticism came after Greece sent armored
vehicles donated by the U.S. to Lesbos and Samos islands.
Türkiye, a NATO member for over 70 years, has complained of
repeated provocative actions and rhetoric by Greece in the region
in recent months, including arming islands near Turkish shores that
are demilitarized under treaties, saying that such moves frustrate
its good faith efforts for peace.
Türkiye and Greece are at odds over a number of issues,
including competing claims over jurisdiction in the Eastern
Mediterranean, overlapping claims over their continental shelves,
maritime boundaries, airspace, energy, the ethnically split island
of Cyprus, the status of the islands in the Aegean Sea and
migrants.
Ankara accuses Athens of illegally militarizing Greek islands in
the East Aegean and questions Greece’s sovereignty over them. There
is also a dispute over the exploitation of mineral resources in the
Aegean.
Since the beginning of 2022, Greek warplanes have violated
Turkish airspace 256 times and harassed Turkish jets on 158
occasions, and Greek coast guard boats also violated Turkish
territorial waters 33 times.
Among the most recent developments that flared tensions was the
harassment by two Greek coast guard boats opening fire on a cargo
ship in international waters, continued pushbacks by Greek elements
recorded by Turkish UAVs as well as the harassment of Turkish
fighter jets under a NATO mission by Greece’s Russian-made
S-300s.
It was reported recently that Turkish jets on a reconnaissance
mission, flying in international airspace, had been harassed by a
Greek defense system stationed on Crete.
Türkiye is planning to submit to NATO and its allies the radar
logs showing how a Greek S-300 air defense system harassed Turkish
F-16 jets during a mission in international airspace, sources said.
Türkiye has also lodged a protest and demanded an explanation and
investigation from Greece into an incident that was “totally in
violation of international laws.”
On Ankara’s request for recognition of the Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Erdogan said: “If the U.N. Security Council
acts fairly, we will speed up this process.”
He also urged the international community to recognize the TRNC,
adding that “this would open the way to resolving the Cyprus
issue.”
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