No letup in Ankara’s accusations, threats

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu fired off fresh accusations against Greece on Thursday, claiming that it continues to violate “the Lausanne Treaty and the basic human rights” of the Muslim minority in Western Thrace, which Ankara insists, in contravention of said treaty, on describing as Turkish.

“We welcomed the valuable members of the Consultative Council of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace in Ankara,” Cavusoglu wrote in a Twitter post.

“We have never left the Turks of Western Thrace, we will never leave them on their own!” he noted, accompanying his post with a list of alleged “violations” that, according to Ankara, Greece is committing.

The latest round of incendiary rhetoric came on the heels of renewed threats of war by Turkey earlier this week if Greece does not demilitarize its Aegean islands.

More specifically, Cavusoglu warned that if Greece does not comply with Ankara’s demand, then Turkey will either challenge the sovereignty of the islands or it “will suddenly come overnight.”