Turkey has now accused Greece of breaching international law by carrying out a military exercise on Kos island in the Aegean Sea, in what has now become an escalating dispute between the two nations.
The Turkish foreign ministry on Friday said it was made aware of Greek media reports that Greek special forces had parachuted onto Kos and said the exercise was a breach of a 1947 treaty that banned all such training on the island.
"According to the 1947 Paris peace treaty the island of Kos was ceded by Italy to Greece on condition of demilitarisation and ban on the conduct of any military exercises. This is why this drill, carried out on the island of Kos, is a violation of the international law," a Turkish spokesperson said.
A Greek defence ministry source confirmed there had been a scheduled exercise at the beginning of the week involving parachutists and Greek media is reporting the training schedule of the Greek armed forces is not going to stop.
Turkey has now warned it could take action if necessary.
"We call on our neighbour Greece to refrain from unilateral actions that ... could trigger tensions and are against international law," foreign ministry spokesman Huseyin Muftuoglu said in a statement.
As Greek City Times has reported all week, tensions between the two countries have been on the rise since a Greek court last week blocked the extradition of eight Turkish soldiers Ankara accused of involvement in July's failed coup.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias told Greek media that Turkey's behaviour appeared to be an "attempt to externalise their internal crisis," and added the important thing was keeping communication open.
"We have made known to all allies and partners in NATO, our EU partners and also the United Nations, that Turkey may occasionally behave nervously, in a manner not becoming to the needs of normal development of bilateral relations," Kotzias said.
