Despite Greece's moves against Türkiye, Ankara maintains calls for dialogue and negotiation, Defense Miniter Hulusi Akar said Tuesday.
Commenting on the recent Greek aggression in his address to the 13th Ambassadors Conference in the capital Ankara, Akar said: "There are actions and discourses that are contrary to reason and logic. Enmity towards Türkiye is gaining a premium in Greece. They speak against Türkiye to cover their own weaknesses."
The minister stated that Greece has harassed Türkiye's rights with its practices, rhetoric and actions for decades. "Despite these, Türkiye is in favor of solving these problems through dialogue and diplomacy, but it could not get the necessary answer from Greece in this regard," he said.
Akar said that there has been a lot of fake news against Türkiye in the Greek media and added: "They took the photos and videos from our exercise years ago, and they show it on Greek newspapers and television. "The Turks are preparing for the attack." No such thing... I mean, there is such an obsession, consciously or unconsciously, that must be ended as well."
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also commented on the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean and Aegean on Monday, underlining that Türkiye wants the "interconnected issues" to be addressed and resolved "holistically and comprehensively in line with international law."
"Greece, however, does not have the will to resolve (these) issues," he said.
Türkiye has ended the joint mechanism with Greece over the hostile remarks of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the country’s inconsistent stance on dialogue efforts.
In May, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Mitsotakis “no longer exists” for him after the latter’s remarks and criticism of Türkiye during his recent trip to the United States. Erdoğan said Mitsotakis spoke against Türkiye and urged the U.S. Congress not to allow F-16 fighter jets to be sold to Ankara.
Ankara has also said Athens has to start disarming demilitarized islands in the Aegean.
Türkiye and Greece are at odds over a number of issues, including competing claims over jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean, air space, energy, the ethnically split island of Cyprus and the status of the islands in the Aegean Sea.
Türkiye is demanding that Greece demilitarize its eastern islands, maintaining action is required under 20th-century treaties that ceded sovereignty of the islands to Greece.
The Greek government calls the demand a deliberate misinterpretation and has accused Türkiye, a fellow NATO member, of stepping up hostile actions in the area.
A dispute over drilling rights for potential oil and gas deposits in the Eastern Mediterranean led to a tense naval standoff in the summer of 2020. Greece has since embarked on a major military modernization program.
But the two countries also cooperate on energy projects, including a newly built pipeline that transports natural gas from Azerbaijan to Western Europe. The pipeline, which crosses Türkiye and Greece, is part of Europe's effort to reduce dependence on Russian energy.
Türkiye, which has the longest continental coastline in the Eastern Mediterranean, has rejected maritime boundary claims by Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration, stressing that their excessive claims violate the sovereign rights of Türkiye and the Turkish Cypriots.
Turkish leaders have repeatedly stressed that Ankara is in favor of resolving outstanding problems in the region through international law, good neighborly relations, dialogue and negotiations.
Officials from both countries resumed exploratory talks in 2021 after a five-year pause to lay the groundwork for formal negotiations to begin but haven’t made much progress.
National defense is wide-ranging and cannot be established just through military means, the Turkish defense chief also said, explaining: "There is economic security, there is the cultural economy and there's cultural security."
Addressing the Turkish envoys, Akar said Türkiye aims to protect its borders from terrorist organizations through its cross-border operations and underlined that "we have no interest in anyone's land."
Recalling the agreements Türkiye signed with Russia and United States on clearing terrorists from northern Syria, Akar said: "Although we have undertaken and fulfilled all responsibilities on our part, our interlocutors have failed to fulfill the promises."
Regarding NATO, the defense chief said Türkiye fulfills its duties at NATO in full and expects the same from the 30-member military alliance.
