Agathonisi

Greece is grappling with a severe water shortage that impacts both its islands and mainland, according to Kathimerini.

Greece is facing severe water shortages affecting both islands and the mainland, public broadcaster ERT reported Wednesday. 

"In Turkey we say, 'Tencere yuvarlanmis kapagini bulmus.' Don't you have the same proverb?" a woman from Kusadasi on Turkey's western Aegean coast, eating at the table next to ours on the island of Agathonisi asked the waiter, making a circle with her hand. "I bet she means 'Birds of a feather flock together,'" the Greek owner of the restaurant tells us.

He was right.

After months of declarations from top Turkish government officials that Greece's sovereignty over a number of its islands in the eastern Mediterranean is contingent upon Athens demilitarising them, now Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar has reportedly decided that he wishes to forbid Deputy Defence Minister Nikos Hardalias from visiting the said islands without Ankara's permission.

The Turkish media continue the provocative propaganda about the Greek islands, which they claim are Turkish.

Erkan Karakous, Vice Admiral, said that Agathonisi, Farmakonisi, Pserimos, Kinaros and some other islands belong to Turkey and there is no doubt about that.

The National Organization for Public Health (EODY) is launching on Friday (June 5) a new round of testing on the residents of 16 small islands of the Aegean, ahead of the opening to foreign tourists in mid-June.

The National Organization for Public Health (EODY) is launching on Friday (June 5) a new round of testing on the residents of 16 small islands of the Aegean, ahead of the opening to foreign tourists in mid-June.

Ankara on Monday attempted to present its stance in the Aegean as part of "routine" operations after Sunday's harassment by Turkish jets of the helicopter that was transporting Greek Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos and Chief of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff (GEETHA) Konstantinos Floros to military posts on Oinousses and Panagia, Agathonisi and Farmakonisi.

Mayors of small Greek islands are demanding a ban on all arrivals, especially over Easter, to prevent the spread of Covid-19 as they are not equipped with the necessary medical infrastructure to cope.

These islands include Patmos, Milos, Tilos, Ithaki, Kasos, Alonnisos, Leipsoi, Oinousses, Agathonissi, Psara, Paxos and Rhodes.

Athens was faced on Thursday with an apparent attempt by Ankara to stoke tensions at the Greek-Turkish land border after Turkey said it was deploying 1,000 officers of its elite police units to stop the return of migrants into its territory as Turkish officials continued with inflammatory rhetoric against their Greek counterparts.