Anatolia: Turkish marches monitor Greece's arming of islands in the Aegean

Turkish security sources said today, Sunday, that two Greek ships were spotted transporting armored vehicles to demilitarized islands in the Aegean Sea, which increases tension between the two neighboring countries.

The sources told Anadolu Agency that Turkish marches spotted the two landing ships heading to the islands of Lesbos and Samos, where they transferred 23 armored vehicles to the first and 18 others to the second, on last Sunday and Wednesday.

The sources confirmed that the two armored transport incidents are a "blatant indication" that Greece continues to arm the islands near Turkey, and to violate the status of those islands, which are supposed to be demilitarized, according to the agreements.

Turkish security sources also considered that Greece has for many years been violating the "non-military status" of the two islands and deploying weapons on them, noting that what happened recently is the replacement of armored vehicles that were there with modern armored vehicles with tactical wheels that Washington granted to Athens.

These sources accused Greece of ignoring Turkey's calls for dialogue and of continuing its provocations.

Turkey and Greece have seen decades-old disputes over a number of issues, including the boundaries of their continental shelf, overflights in the Aegean region, the status of demilitarized islands, and the divided island of Cyprus.

This month witnessed an exchange of statements between the two countries that increased the tension, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Greece of occupying demilitarized islands in the Aegean Sea, saying that Turkey was ready to "do what is necessary" when the time came.

Later, the European Union expressed its concern over Erdogan's comments, while Greece sent letters to NATO and the United Nations complaining about what it described as "inflammatory" comments.

Two weeks ago, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was asked at a press conference whether he believed Turkey would provoke a military conflict in the Aegean, and he said he could not "even imagine a military confrontation", warning that in such a scenario, the armed forces would issue Greek for "decisive response".