Greece activates anti-aircraft defences on Aegean islands, briefs Stoltenberg on Ankara’s provocations

By George Gilson

The Greek government today activated anti-aircraft defence systems on its Aegean islands, with an order issued by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Konstantinos Floros  following an unprecedented barrage of violations of Greek airspace yesterday and today, including over seven inhabited Greek Aegean islands and the Imia rock islets, which brought the two countries to the brink of war in 1996.

For months, Turkey has continually and vociferously demanded demilitarisation of the islands based on provisions in the 1923 Lausanne Treaty.

Athens' response  is that the defensive forces on the islands are entirely legitimate given the Turkish Parliament's 1995 decision that if Greece exercises its right under international law to extend its territorial waters in the Aegean that would be a cause for war, and also given presence of the  huge Aegean Army with a major landing force on the coast of Anatolia, a stone's throw away from the Greek islands, and  the continuing Turkish occupation of Cyprus.

Earlier in the day, the government  decided to suspend talks with Turkey on confidence-building measures and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has briefed NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

The Greek foreign ministry issued a strongly worded demarche yesterday, and a second one today, condemning Turkey's actions provocative, illegal, and damaging to bilateral relations.

Foreign Ministry Secretary General Themistoklis Demiris, in the demarche he handed to Turkish Ambassador to Athens Burak Özügergin yesterday at the foreign ministry, underlined that the provocative airspace violations constitute a flagrant violation of international law, endanger civil aviation in the area, and strongly undermine efforts to...