Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Greece lied about the initiative of the Secretary-General of NATO, which it agreed at the beginning, before backing down later, and expressed his country's annoyance about the French role in the eastern Mediterranean and some regional issues.
He explained that the initiative of the Secretary-General of NATO is very natural to prevent any clash between the member states of the alliance, and that Turkey has responded positively to it.
Ihsanoglu added that his country responded to the German initiative and agreed to the request of the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to hold a meeting with Greece without preconditions, but Athens refused.
He stressed that Turkey has one goal in the eastern Mediterranean, which is to defend the rights of its people and the rights of the Turkish Cypriots, and it has no other intentions or goals.
He also indicated that it had told everyone that it was ready to conclude agreements with all the countries of the Mediterranean basin, but had not received an answer from these countries.
On Thursday, Greece denied that it had agreed to hold talks sponsored by NATO with Turkey to reduce the escalation of tension over maritime borders and gas exploration rights.
The Greek Foreign Ministry said, "The published information claiming that Greece and Turkey have agreed to hold what they called" technical talks "to reduce the escalation of tension in the eastern Mediterranean do not match the truth.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced earlier that the two countries "agreed to enter into technical talks at NATO headquarters to put in place a mechanism in order to prevent any military conflict and reduce the possibility of accidents in the eastern Mediterranean."
Annoyed by the French role, the
Turkish foreign minister asked the reason for France’s presence in the eastern Mediterranean region, indicating that it was the one pushing Greece towards escalation.
He said that France had acted hysterically since Turkey's success in eliminating what he described as "terrorism" supported by it in northern Syria.
Ihsanoglu listed some of the stances that France had taken against his country, including its allegations that it could not prove that Turkish ships carried out "an act of aggression" against one of its ships in the Mediterranean.
He also referred to the humanitarian intervention of his country in Lebanon after the Beirut port explosion, where Turkey took the initiative to provide humanitarian aid, establish field hospitals, and then offered assistance in rebuilding the port and the city, and using the port of Mersin pending the rebuilding of the port, but France warned the Lebanese about Turkey, She told them that she had colonial intentions and wanted to control Lebanon.
Ihsanoglu stressed that France lied about all of this, as Turkey has no ambitions in Lebanon, and has been providing humanitarian aid to many countries without political calculations, as he said.
He called on France to return to rationality and logic, and to move away from acting hysterically in its dealings with regional issues.
In another context, the Al-Jazeera correspondent, Al-Mu`taz God Hasan, said that he had monitored the entry of an armed boat into the island of Meis, which is only 2 kilometers from the coast of Antalya, indicating that there was talk in recent days about Greece's arming of this island, which is prohibited by the agreements related to this island. Disarmed.
Turkey should stop threatening
In return, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed Friday that Turkey should stop its "threats" to Greece before holding any talks on reducing tension in the eastern Mediterranean.
"Let us put threats aside to make room for the start of contacts," Mitsotakis said in Athens, while meeting with a senior Chinese Communist Party official.
He added that Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias would present a briefing later Friday to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on "(Turkey's) illegal activities."
The level of tension has risen dramatically against the background of Turkish exploration activities, which Greece and Cyprus indicate that it violates their sovereignty.
Turkey sent the Aruj Reis research vessel and warships in the disputed waters on August 10, as part of an extended mission.
Greece responded by conducting naval military exercises alongside several European Union countries in addition to the Emirates, which were held in close proximity to other exercises conducted by Turkey between Cyprus and Crete last week.
The European Union is following the escalating conflict with great concern, and has repeatedly called on Turkey to stop drilling activities and threatened to impose sanctions on Ankara if it refuses to resolve the dispute through dialogue.