Greek Ministry of Defense responds to Turkish criticism of Dendias
The Greek Ministry of Defense has responded to the statement issued earlier on Wednesday by their Turkish counterparts.
The Turkish ministry had criticized the statements made by Defense Minister Nikos Dendias during his recent visit to Cyprus as “false” and “slanderous,” asserting that in 1974 “the heroic Turkish army took action in accordance with Turkey’s right of guarantee derived from international agreements and saved the Turkish Cypriot people, who were subjected to all kinds of persecution by the Greek Cypriot side between 1963 and 1974, from an attempted genocide.”
In a statement, the Greek ministry expressed “regret” that during his visit to Cyprus, Dendias had “omitted to ‘thank’ the Turkish forces of invasion and occupation for their ‘services’ in defending the principles [enshrined] in the United Nations Charter, the territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus, the protection of human rights and democracy.”
