eKathimerini — Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras discussed the refugee crisis and EU-Turkish relations with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a scheduled phone conversation on Thursday.
At the same time Ankara was scaling up the rhetoric, with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu claiming that the “Imia islets are Turkish land.”
His remarks drew a stern response from the Greek Foreign Ministry, which described them as “irresponsible and provocative.”
A dispute over Greece’s Imia islets in the eastern Aegean almost led to a war between the two countries in 1996. “Greece’s sovereignty over its islands in the Aegean, including Imia, is indisputable and enshrined in international law,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“Turkey’s escalating rhetoric” was also discussed during the conversation between, Tsipras and Merkel, the premier’s office said in a statement.
Turkey’s provocations in recent days have not only been verbal as there have been frequent violations of Greek air space over the Aegean. On Thursday two Turkish F-16s violated Greek air space off the Aegean islet of Psarra, leading to two dogfights with Greek aircraft.
Greek diplomatic sources on Thursday attributed the spike in Turkish aggression to the insecurity of the Turkish administration following a failed coup in July.
