Turkey issues notice demanding demilitarization of Chios

The Turkish navy has issued a navigational warning demanding the demilitarization of the Greek island of Chios.

Issued on Monday evening by the navy’s Office of Navigation, Hydrography and Oceanography, the navigational telex claims that Greece is violating the “demilitarized status of Chios set by the 1923 Lausanne Peace Treaty.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Hulusi Akar has often called for the demilitarization of 16 islands near Turkey’s coast, citing the Lausanne Treaty, which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has openly challenged in public comments.

Akar has insisted that while the Treaty of Lausanne states that 23 islands must not be militarized, Greece has militarized 16 of them.