Dendias informs State Department about Turkey’s ‘provocative’ rhetoric
Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said Wednesday he discussed the situation in Ukraine and the Western Balkans with Wendy Sherman, US Deputy Secretary of State.
In a tweet, Dendias also said he also briefed Sherman “on Turkey’s recent provocative statements.”
During a phone conversation today, I discussed with U.S. @DeputySecState W.Sherman the situation in #Ukraine & #WesternBalkans and briefed her on Turkey’s recent provocative statements. pic.twitter.com/rr22u03fec
— Nikos Dendias (@NikosDendias) January 4, 2022
Earlier, speaking after a meeting with his visiting Saudi Arabian counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan al Saud in Athens, Dendias described Turkey’s stance on Greece as “the epitome of irrationality.”
Turkey’s rhetoric against Greece “has reached a level we have not seen for years,” he noted, noting that the neighboring country is intent on misrepresenting the truth and any sense of lnternational law, including the Law of the Sea.
“It threatens Greece with war if we apply the inalienable right of expanding our territorial waters, as is explicitly foreseen by the International Law of the Sea,” Dendias said.
“Turkey has lined up across our islands the largest landing force and largest landing fleet in the Mediterranean while demanding that we demilitarize our islands – in other words, that we relinquish our recognized right to self-defense, as foreseen in the UN Charter,” he added.
Instead, Turkey should prove its faith in international law practically, by starting to implement it. “One of the simplest and fastest implementations would be the immediate retraction of the casus belli and the immediate recognition of the nullity of the so-called Turkish-Libyan memorandum,” he stressed.
Greece and Saudi Arabia are committed to protecting and defending International Law of the Sea and the freedom of navigation, Dendias said, while both countries are committed to peace and stability in countries like Iraq, Libya and Syria, and in supporting the principle of non-intervention in domestic issues of third countries.
Among other issues discussed, the Denias said that a Saudi Arabian delegation would visit the developing region of Thrace and the port city of Alexandroupoli, while he also expressed appreciation for the Arab country’s intention to establish an economic affairs office in Athens, an example of the closer relationship the two countries are fostering and the intention to promote Saudi investments in Greece.
The strengthening of this relationship is also significant in the sense that “the Arabian peninsula comprises a bridge between the Mediterranean and the Indo-Pacific region,” Dendias pointed out. [AMNA]
