Turkey accuses Greece of violating Lausanne Treaty

Turkey's "defenses and are not weak" and it will "not tolerate" any purported violations of its sovereign rights, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Thursday, accusing Greece of breaching international law by keeping troops on the islands of the eastern Aegean.

"While our neighbor talks about international law and accuses us without any truth of harassment, it is violating the Treaty of Lausanne. For example, although the 1923 Treaty of Lausannce and the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty were explicit, it has armed the islands, whose demilitarizes status has been agreed since 1936," Akar said in translated comments in an interview with Turkish newspaper Sozcu.

"Moreover, although their territorial waters are 6 miles, they claim that their airspace is 10 miles. These claims are against good neighborly relations and especially of international agreements," he added.