The spokesperson of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, İbrahim Kalın, made complaints to US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan about Greece. In his statements to the Turkish channel 24 TV, Kalın said that he told Sullivan that "you want calm, which is to accept all the Greek demands".
According to the Turkish website Star, Erdoğan's representative emphasised that "Greece is not a country that can compete with Turkey". He went on to say that "[Greece] should have proper relations with Turkey on a 'logical and legal basis', recognising its own strength and its limits".
"When this is achieved, we can turn the Aegean, the Aegean islands, into an area where peace, tranquility, mutual economic relations, visits, tourism and all other areas develop, not conflicts," he said.
Afterwards, the representative of the Turkish president spoke about the suggestions that Turkey receives from third countries.
As Kalın noted, "the westerners are telling us again, of course with the propaganda of the Greeks, 'these violations of the airspace are a very important problem, don't do this.'"
"We say, look, what you call a violation of airspace is when our planes fly into our own airspace, Greece tells you that it is a violation of airspace, and you accept that as a given. But come to us."
At the same time returning to the issue of the "militarisation of the islands", he said that Ankara is answering its counterparts, "come and see objectively who is violating the airspace, who is militarising the islands even though they have a demilitarised status?
"Some weapons and armored vehicles are sent to the islands that we call demilitarised islands, that is, in a civilian capacity. Take a look at it.'"
He said he explained this “in detail to Sullivan, the US national security adviser, last week."
"Look, you say there should be calm in the Aegean, no tension, etc. You define calm as acceptance of all the Greek demands. And you set intensity as our every objection. Your point is wrong,'” Kalın argued.
READ MORE: Erdoğan: Aristotle and Homer are Turkey's history.
