Aegean dispute

By Yannis Kartalis

It has been apparent for some time now that the "new sultan" of Ankara, in his effort to divert the attention of Turkish citizens from the continually worsening economic situation and its negative repercussions on their daily lives, has adopted a two-pronged approach to foreign policy.

The Greek FM Dendias deconstructed the rhetoric regarding the Turkish “casus belli” against Greece

Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Feb. 16 attended NATO meetings in Brussels amid a crisis between the Alliance and Russia over the latter's military build-up in eastern Ukraine. Akar also had a bilateral meeting with his Greek counterpart after a fresh debate between the two neighbors over the status of the Aegean islands.

Senior officials from Turkey and Greece will hold the 64th round of exploratory talks on Feb. 22 in Athens, a dialogue mechanism that has been running since the early 2000s, amid an ongoing quarrel over the latter's continued efforts of the armament of the islands that must be kept demilitarized according to international law.

“Greece rejects the Turkish unilateral objections for the delimitation of the continental shelf in the Eastern Mediterranean”

Turkey has accused Greece of pushing back migrants through inhuman ways as a state policy and the European Union of turning a blind eye to this blatant violation of human rights after 19 migrants froze to death after being pushed back by Greek authorities in the past weeks.

Turkey continued to escalate its provocations against Greece

Ankara has slammed the Greek top diplomat's "hostile" and "provocative" statements against Turkey at a four-way summit that included French, Egyptian and Greek Cypriot colleagues.

Greece will respond resolutely in defending the EU's external borders against possible migrant pressure from Turkey, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of "lying" about the migrant crisis.

Erdogan Threatens Athens Directly: If we Open our Borders, I don't Know what will Happen to Greece

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in welcoming visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke of a "very different Greece" than the country she dealt with over the last decade.

Noting that he is the eighth prime minister during her 16 years in power with whom the chancellor has held talks, the PM offered a summary of bilateral and EU-Greek relations in that period.