ATHENS – [ANA-MPA]
“Unilateral claims regarding the demilitarization of the Aegean islands are unfounded and have been repeatedly rejected in their entirety”, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lana Zochiou said on March 5, in response to a journalist’s question concerning remarks made earlier the same day by the spokesperson of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The status of the Greek islands of the Eastern Aegean is governed by the Treaty of Lausanne, the Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits and the Treaty of Paris, to which Turkiye is not even a contracting party,” she underlined.
She added that “these treaties leave no room for doubt regarding the status of the islands.”
“Greece’s defensive stance is non-negotiable. The state of hostilities in our wider neighborhood necessitates the country’s necessary defensive preparedness,” she stressed, noting that “the prevailing uncertainty and the risk of further escalation of the war call for prudence and restraint, not for unproductive statements.”
Earlier, Turkish foreign ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli had claimed that “statements made in recent days, in violation of the demilitarized status of the Aegean islands, are considered by us to be unserious, unfortunate and untimely.”
He also argued that “under the framework of the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923 and the Treaty of Paris of 1947, the islands of the Eastern Aegean and the Dodecanese have been placed under a non-military status and there is no disputable issue regarding their objective legal status.”
