Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is ready to respond to all possible threats and provocations posed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the NATO Summit.
Athens’ stance at the crucial NATO Summit will depend on the issues that the Turkish president will try to put on the table. The government staff and the prime minister himself are ready for all scenarios with possible challenges.
The crucial question for Athens is whether Mr. Erdogan will raise the issue of demilitarization of the Aegean islands. In this case, according to information, the Greek side has prepared a complete dossier with which all the arguments of Turkey will be refuted. The dossier will include all the data on Turkish aircraft overflights of inhabited Greek islands in the Aegean, as well as Alexandroupolis.
At the same time, Athens will remind that Turkey has the 4th Field Army (“Army of the Aegean”) opposite the Greek islands, which is not part of NATO structures, and if necessary, there will be references to the casus belli, with which Turkey has been threatening Greece for more than 20 years.
Erdogan: A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma
The information that has been arriving in Athens in recent days is that Erdogan is determined to provoke at Summit raising the issue of demilitarization of the islands.
This is confirmed by the position of the representative of the Turkish presidency, Ibrahim Kalin, who reiterated that the militarization of the islands is illegal stressing that Turkey is raising this issue under the Lausanne and Paris Treaties.
The Turkish president seems ready to railroad the NATO Summit agenda.
Documents
Erdogan once again spoke about the “documents” he will present at the NATO Summit, which he linked to the “counter-terrorism” cause, essentially sending a message that he has no intention of backing down on the Finland and Sweden accession issue. The Turkish media have been faithfully toeing the Erdogan line.
Yesterday, the Turkish president insisted on his threats against Athens, albeit indirectly, after the Council of Ministers, emphasizing that “we have not hesitated and will not hesitate to take all the necessary steps in the Mediterranean and the Aegean.” He characterized the recent EFES 2022 exercise as a message of trust in friends and fear in enemies.
Mitsotakis – Erdogan to sit at the same table
However, tonight, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be at the same table at the dinner that the Spanish king will host for NATO leaders.
It should be noted that the Turkish president, obviously annoyed by Mitsotakis’ recent trip to the USA, had stressed that he would not meet with the Greek Prime Minister again.
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