Greece decries Turkish refusal to discuss plant
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said Wednesday that the construction of a nuclear plant at Akkuyu in southern Turkey is a security concern for the wider region and decried Ankara’s failure to discuss the issue with its neighbors.
“Turkey wants to build a nuclear power plant in Akkuyu. Shouldn’t neighboring countries agree on security parameters? There is a fault in the wider area. This area is not without earthquakes. Isn’t this a danger for Greece?” Dendias said. He also bemoaned Turkey’s stance in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean. “Instead of addressing the common problems, [Ankara] proposes the resolution of largely nonexistent disputes,” he said.
As for the recent situation in the southern part of the Evros River where Ankara is presenting a patch of the area as Turkish, Dendias said the dispute has been created due to changes in the riverbed which make it difficult to set precise limits.
“I do not like to create tensions between two countries that are allies,” he said, adding that a joint committee could resolve those issues. “We are talking about a few dozens meters,” he noted.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, the Greek Foreign Ministry accused Ankara of trying to “fabricate history” after the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement denouncing comments by Greek political parties on the anniversary of the Pontic Genocide – the massacre of ethnic Greeks by the Turks during World War I and the subsequent Greek-Turkish war – as “baseless and delirious.”
“Historical truth, self-criticism and the forsaking of revisionism are conditions for [holding] a well-meaning dialogue and fighting the extremities of nationalism, for the reconciliation of people and states and their peaceful coexistence,” the Greek ministry said.
Also on Wednesday, Turkish fighter jets carried out a fresh round of overflights in the eastern Aegean above the islets of Anthropofagoi and Agathonissi.
