Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar visited the Command of the Special Forces of his country and in his statements once again blamed Greece for tensions in the Aegean, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Cyprus problem.
Akar said that while his country continues its fight "against terrorists" in Iraq and northern Syria, despite both countries telling Turkish troops to leave, it is fighting "day and night to protect the rights" of Turkey and Turkish-speaking Cypriots.
Pointing to the choice of dialogue with Greece to resolve the problems and stating that "there is no other way," Akar said that Greece has increased tensions with provocative actions.
Stressing that this attitude is wrong, Akar said that "Greece must understand that it cannot get anywhere like this."
He added that the Turkish government expects a meeting in Turkey with the Greek delegation as part of confidence-building measures and confidence-building measures.
Regarding the Cyprus issue, Akar stated that it is necessary to look for ways for two sovereign and equal independent states to live peacefully and side by side, recalling that the Turks shared these thoughts with the Greek Cypriots at the meeting held in Geneva.
Unfortunately for Akar, the Turkish proposal was shot down by the United Nations, European Union, United States, Russia and China.
On the issue of Libya, Akar said that Turkey will continue to support the Libyan government.
Referring to agreements reached in the past between the two countries, he said that various countries, especially Greece, have done some provocative moves against the current Libyan government over these agreements.
In late 2019, the Muslim Brotherhood Government of National Accords, whose mandate to rule expired in December 2017, signed an illegal memorandum with Turkey to steal Greek maritime space.
This however was rejected by the Libyan Parliament and has only received international condemnation and no support.
Finally, commenting on the exploratory contacts between Turkey and Egypt, Akar said "We see that our relations with Egypt are developing, that gives us joy, but it scares and frightens others."
As it became known, this is not in line with Egyptian claims about the meeting.
In fact, only yesterday Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that it “saddens him to see Egyptians in solidarity with Greek people.”
Egyptian-Turkish consultations were held on Wednesday and Thursday for the first time since 2013 due to Turkey’s unapologetic support for the radical Muslim Brotherhood organisation whose origins lay in Egypt.
The two sides were set to discuss issues in a “new era of normalisation” between Egypt and Turkey, but it appears no significant steps were made.
Following discussions between Egyptian Deputy Foreign Minister Hamdi Loza and Turkish Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sedat Önal, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said “the discussions were frank and in-depth.”
As part of these discussions, Al-Arabiyah reported that Cairo called on Ankara to stop escalations against Greece and Cyprus.
Egypt stated that it will not support Turkey in any border dispute with Greece and that it wants an agreement on the same ones it already has with Athens and Nicosia.
Turkey is attempting to steal Greek maritime sovereign rights from Greece and Cyprus in violation of the United Nations Charter Law of the Sea, in which it is only in only 15 countries in the world to not sign – with many of those being landlocked countries.
READ MORE: Turkish DM: Greece will continue making mistakes and achieve nothing.
