Imia/Kardak

It was in 1920 that the United States first became seriously involved in issues arising from the Aegean treaty regime in the Dodecanese. In that year, the peace conference which culminated in the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923 had been convened. The fate of the 12 Aegean islands commonly known as the Dodecanese was one of the issues which the peace conference debated.

Main opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Thursday reiterate Greece's position that there are no grey zones in the Aegean, marking the anniversary of the 1996 Imia crisis, which brought Athens and Ankara to the brink of war.

Defense authorities in Greece have refuted reports in the Turkish media suggesting that the neighboring country had sent ships to the eastern Aegean's Imia islets which were preventing Greek vessels from approaching the area. 

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will pay an official visit to Istanbul on February 5, reports say. The date is expected to be confired be the end of the week.

The Greek premier was invited by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of a UN summit in New York late September. 

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has reportedly sent a letter of congratulations to Hellenic National Defense General Staff Evangelos Apostolakis for his appointment as Greek minister of defense after Panos Kammenos broke from the government coalition earlier this month and stepped down from the role.

Defense authorities in Greece on Tuesday refuted reports in the Turkish media suggesting that the country had sent ships to Imia that were preventing Greek vessels from approaching the islets that brought the two neighbors to the brink of war in January 1996.

In what was seen as a thinly disguised warning against Turkey, newly appointed Defense Minister and former chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff Evangelos Apostolakis said Greece will staunchly defend its national sovereignty and territorial integrity if it has to.

Always one for the grand gesture, outgoing Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, decided to use the ministerial Huey helicopter _ which he mistakenly calls HU1 instead of UH-1 in his Tweet _ to fly over the Imia islets, site of a 1996 incident between Greece and Turkey that brought the to countries to the brink of war.

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.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned on Thursday that if his country's dispute with Greece over the Aegean Sea is not resolved, there is "another option."