Erdogan criticizes Defense Minister Dendias, calls for Mitsotakis to ‘put him in his place’
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan criticized Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias on Sunday for his recent comments regarding the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and called on Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to “put him in his place.”
During the return flight from his visit to the Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus, Erdogan revealed to reporters that he and Mitsotakis agreed at the recent NATO Summit to refrain from provocative comments during their visits to Cyprus.
However, according to Erdogan, Dendias did not follow that agreement during his visit in Cyprus, as he made statements condemning the Turkish invasion.
“I told him that there won’t be remarks that will irk each side and he said he shared the same view. However, Defense Minister Nikos Dendias unfortunately had something different in mind. Obviously, he was not aware of our talk with Mitsotakis and he spoke ill [of Turkey]. Calling Turks ‘invaders’ is an immoral, tactless expression. Mr Mitsotakis should put this minister of his in his place,” said Erdogan, according to Daily Sabah.
According to Anadolu Agency, Erdogan continued by saying that the Turkish invasion of Cyprus was a peace operation.
“Of course, this situation does not require us to remain silent in the face of such delusions. As everyone knows well, Turkey conducted the Cyprus Peace Operation, as the name suggests, for peace, and as a result of this intervention, peace was established,” he stated.
Furthermore, Erdogan stated that he does not consider possible to start any fresh negotiations at the moment.
“Frankly, we don’t see the possibility of starting a new negotiation process in Cyprus without establishing an equation where both sides sit at the table as equals and leave as equals,” said Erdogan, who repeated his call for a two-state solution.
The Turkish president also said that Turkey may build a naval base on the occupied, northern part of the island if Greece does the same in the south.
