The Foreign Ministry lodged a protest with the U.S. and Greece over the unlawful deployment of armored vehicles on demilitarized Aegean islands.
Turkish army drones have recorded the Greek deployment of armored vehicles on the islands of Midilli (Lesvos) and Sisam (Samos), which is in violation of international law.
Türkiye summoned the Greek ambassador and called for an end to violations on Aegean islands and restoring their non-military status, according to the Foreign Ministry.
In the note, the ministry stated that the deployment was another violation of Greece's obligations under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and the 1947 Treaty of Paris.
These islands were required to be demilitarized under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and the 1947 Treaty of Paris, so any troops or weapons on the islands are strictly forbidden.
Meanwhile, in a protest note to the U.S., Türkiye urged respect for the status of Eastern Aegean islands and measures to be taken to prevent the use of its weapons there.
Turkish drone footage, released on Sunday, showed that landing ships carried military vehicles donated by the U.S. to the islands.
According to security sources, the Turkish drones performing flight missions over the Aegean Sea recorded two Greek landing ships en route to Midilli and Sisam.
It was revealed that the ships were carrying 23 tactical wheeled armored vehicles to Midilli and 18 to Sisam. The armored vehicles were among those sent by the U.S. to the Port of Alexandroupolis (Dedeağaç) of Greece.
Türkiye, a NATO member for over 70 years, has complained of repeated provocative actions and rhetoric by Greece in the region in recent months, including arming islands near Turkish shores that are demilitarized under treaties, saying that such moves frustrate its good faith efforts for peace.
Türkiye and Greece are at odds over a number of issues, including competing claims over jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean, overlapping claims over their continental shelves, maritime boundaries, airspace, energy, the ethnically split island of Cyprus, the status of the islands in the Aegean Sea and migrants.
Ankara accuses Athens of illegally militarizing Greek islands in the East Aegean and questions Greece’s sovereignty over them. There is also a dispute over the exploitation of mineral resources in the Aegean.
Since the beginning of 2022, Greek warplanes have violated Turkish airspace 256 times and harassed Turkish jets on 158 occasions, and Greek coast guard boats also violated Turkish territorial waters 33 times.
