Greece rejects Turkish demand for demilitarization of islands

Greece rejected on Thursday Turkey’s latest demand to demilitarize its islands, saying they “go beyond simple logic.”

Earlier on Thursday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reiterated his country’s call on Greece to demilitarize the islands, warning that if Athens does not change its stance, then the debate questioning their sovereignty will begin.

“Regarding the latest accusations of Turkish officials about the status of the Aegean islands, we reject them in their entirety,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexandros Papaioannou told a journalist.

“These accusations not only do not comply with basic principles of international law, but they also go beyond simple logic. The Greek position on this issue has been expressed repeatedly and publicly.”

Papaioannou said that Athens has sent a letter on this issue by Greece’s Permanent Representative to the UN to the Secretary-General.

Greece also rejects Ankara’s unilateral objections to the delimitation of the continental shelf in the Eastern Mediterranean, he said, noting that these objections ignore “the fundamental rules of International Law, and in particular International Law of the Sea.”