Akar warns Turkey will defend rights in Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Thursday reiterated a warning that his country will not relinquish its rights in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, responding to comments by the Greek chief of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff.
Akar said Turkey has taken all necessary precautions “not to allow any faits accomplis in the Aegean and the Mediterranean.”
“We are making every effort to protect our blue homeland. There is no way we will back down from the rights of our country and our people,” he said, adding Turkey is in favour of peace and good neighbourly relations.
On Wednesday, the chief of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff (GEETHA), Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis, warned that Greece will "flatten" any Greek islet in the event that Turkish forces land there.
“If they land on an islet, we will flatten it. And this is a red line that is adopted by the government as well,” he told journalists during a briefing in Athens.
Earlier on Wednesday, Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said Greece plans to declare an exclusive economic zone around Kastelorizo in the next few months.
