Greek–Turkish relations

Straight from the playbook of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his Defense Minister Hulusi Akar engaged in new a round of accusations against Greece on Thursday, claiming it is "escalating provocative actions."

Once again he reiterated the Turkish claim that Greece "is violating treaties by militarizing its islands with demilitarized status," during a visit to eastern Turkey.

January 30th marked the 100 year anniversary of the signing of the Lausanne Convention, which led to the forced expulsion of 1.2 million Greek Orthodox Christians from Turkey and 400,000 Muslims from Greece.

A new video has been released documenting the incident on January 5 when a Turkish patrol boat harassed a Hellenic Coast Guard vessel and attempted to ram it near the eastern Aegean island of Farmakonisi.

At a time when the Hellenic Air Force is mourning the loss of two pilots in an accident on Monday, a total of 23 Turkish aircraft, 18 of which were armed, carried out 14 violations of Greek airspace and 12 violations of the Athens Flight Information Region (FIR) on Wednesday, authorities said.

The 22 Turkish F-16s and one spy plane flew in formations of four and in pairs. 

January 30 was the centenary of the signing of the Lausanne Convention (also known as the Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations) on the compulsory exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey.

Influential US Senator Bob Menendez reiterated his high-profile objections to the sale of new F-16s and the upgrading of Turkey's current fleet of the US-made warplane, in an exclusive soon-to-be broadcast interview with Mega Channel.

With tensions at a consistently high level in the past couple of years between Athens and Ankara, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis insisted at the World Economic Forum in Davos that Greece "will not go to war with Turkey."

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Thursday during a session at the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, that "we will not go to war with Turkey."

He said he still believes it's possible to resolve Greece's differences with Turkey by speaking with Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The reinforcement of the Turkish fleet was announced by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Speaking at the delivery ceremony of a new type of Firtina self-propelled guns at the BMC factory near Ankara, Erdogan announced that the first unmanned aircraft carrier, the Istanbul frigate and the Piri Reis submarine, would join the Turkish fleet this year.

Türkiye has warned Greece once again that it will never accept extending its territorial waters to more than 6 miles in the Aegean Sea amid reports that Athens is beginning to mull over increasing its sovereign waters to up to 12 miles off Crete island in the region.