Ankara reiterates Imia claims

Placing yet more strain on relations with Greece, Turkey, via its Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, disputed the status of the Imia islets in the eastern Aegean and insisted it will never withdraw its troops from Cyprus.

In a speech on Tuesday to the Turkish Parliament on the 2019 budget, Cavusoglu said the status of the islets, which brought Greece and Turkey to the brink of war in 1996, "is not precisely defined either in the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 nor in the Treaty of Paris in 1947."

"However, there has been no change in the status of the islands since the Imia crisis in 1996. As such, there is always tension between Turkey and Greece," he said, adding that the Turkish General Staff and Ministry of Defense are "continuing exploratory contacts with Greece."

"This is a sensitive issue, so we will continue our consultations," he said.

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