New Turkish overflights continue to fuel tension

Athens sees no letup in Ankara’s strategy of fueling tension on land and sea, with its forces regularly firing tear gas and stun grenades over the Evros land border while on Monday its fighter jets again violated Greek airspace over the northeastern coast of the island of Chios in the eastern Aegean.

At the same time, in an article he wrote for the Financial Times that was published Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused Greece over its supposed ill-treatment of refugees at its border and slammed the European Union for putting up with it. 

“The EU was meant to be a world power that stood as a beacon for human rights and respect for the international rules-based order. But unless something is done about Greece’s treatment of refugees, and the frenzied support it still receives from the EU, that claim will collapse,” he said.