[noemon]

Just days before his meeting with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, along with the leader of the Turkish Republican People’s Party (CHP), Kemal Kilicdaroglu, went on a nationalistic rant against Greece and Cyprus during an international conference on trade in Turkey Tuesday, dampening expectations regarding the outcome of the weekend talks between the two leaders in Abu Dhabi.

Speaking at the 7th Annual Bosporus Summit, Erdogan slammed Cyprus for using its flag as representative of the whole island and ignoring the northern part of the island.

“You can’t have a flag like that when the TRNC is there,” he said, referring to the breakaway Turkish-Cypriot state, adding that the Greek Cypriots use their flag at European Union summits “without shame.”

“You are the Greek-Cypriot administration of southern Cyprus. In the north, there is a Turkish republic, you see – one way or another they will learn and understand,” he said, describing the Greek Cypriots as “rude.”

His comments came in the wake of his recent repeated references to the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which set the borders between Greece and Turkey, as “unfair” and after last week’s breakdown of United Nations-backed Cyprus reunification talks at the Swiss resort of Mont Pelerin. Erdogan said that he urged Tsipras for a bilateral or multilateral summit on Cyprus, insisting that “this issue cannot drag on.”

“We should reach somewhere by the end of the year, but if we start saying that this land is ours, and that only we will govern, we will get nowhere.”

For his part, Turkish-Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci warned that if there is no solution, then “we will continue on our path” and called on international businessmen to invest in the occupied part of the island.

In response to Erdogan’s remarks, government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said that the “main priority now should be restarting talks on Cyprus,” adding that a bilateral summit had not been designated.

“It will take place at the right time, when the talks restart and lead to a just and viable solution.”

The Greek Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Turkey’s leadership had again tried to equate the victim, Cyprus, with the culprit, Turkey, by making historically inaccurate and arbitrary claims “that seek to exempt it from its responsibilities as an occupying force,” on the island.

However, the CHP leader, Kilicdaroglu, raised the rhetoric a notch, accusing the Erdogan government of compromising too much with the Greeks and Greek Cypriots, and urging him to take over 18 Greeks islets in the eastern Aegean that he claimed belong to Turkey.

“The islets are ours. There is a Greek flag. They are in a state of occupation. [The Turkish government talks] about Lausanne and that we lost lands. But they have lost 18 islets under our nose. And now I ask [Turkish Prime Minister] Binali Yildirim: Will you take back the 18 islets or not?” he said, accusing Erdogan of “selling out” Cyprus by agreeing to reduce the Turkish-held territory from 37 percent to 29.2 percent.

“We ask [the Turkish government]: Are these islands ours? Yes, they say. Should our flag be flying on the islets? Yes, they say. But there is a Greek flag there. Why don’t you intervene?”

[Frollein]

Aren't you glad now that we sold you all those nice submarines?

[noemon]

As I have said before I am glad that we are heavily armed, a lot of people in here with Ombrageux being the main person have tried to ridicule Greek insistence on having the largest military budget in Europe, calling us "paranoid" but any Greek person literate in the Greco-Turkish relations knows the reality of these relations and the potential dangers arising from the slightest perceived weakness. Besides as I said before, our military equipment lose their value far less than investments in other products.

The problem I had with those submarines is that there were reports that they were faulty, but from what I understand the faults have been fixed and Greece has received a license to build them in Greece as well following the same tradition in Leopard's and the Heckler & Koch product line.

[The Sabbaticus]

As I have said before I am glad that we are heavily armed, a lot of people in here with Ombrageux being the main person have tried to ridicule Greek insistence on having the largest military budget in Europe, calling us "paranoid" but any Greek person literate in the Greco-Turkish relations knows the reality of these relations and the potential dangers arising from the slightest perceived weakness. Besides as I said before, our military equipment lose their value far less than investments in other products.

The problem I had with those submarines is that there were reports that they were faulty, but from what I understand the faults have been fixed and Greece has received a license to build them in Greece as well following the same tradition in Leopard's and the Heckler & Koch product line.

Most Europeans have grown self-complacent and indolent. After Crimea, most of Europe was forced out of their reverie of unbridled EU expansion, which eyed Russia at one point. Now with Turkey moving closer and closer to an Islamic dictatorship and Islamic terror on the rise, things are looking differently.

[noemon]

Defense Minister Panos Kammenos on Thursday sought to send a stern message to Turkey and other countries questioning Greece's territorial integrity, declaring during a visit to military outpost near the Albanian border that Greece "will not accept such provocations" and saying he would stay the night at the outpost to underline the "fortified presence" of the Greek military.

In comments at the Molydoskepastos outpost which he visited with the commander of the General Chiefs of Staff Vassileios Tellidis, Kammenos said he wanted to "send a message and a response to all those who dare to question international treaties, international law and make provocative statements."

"If Erdogan wants to abolish the Treaty of Lausanne then we'll return to the Treaty of Sevres," Kammenos said, referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and accused Ankara of "trying to fuel tensions."

His comments came after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu referred to the eastern Aegean Imia islets as “Turkish soil.” Kammenos added that Turkey's "total enfeeblement" after a failed coup in July and its "constant losses" in Syria was leading its leaders to "stupid statements."

He also lashed out at Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and the latters' "historically inaccurate" statements.

[noemon]

Turkey’s escalating rhetoric with regard to Greece’s sovereignty over islets in the eastern Aegean drew a stern response from the European Commission on Friday which called on Ankara “to respect the sovereignty of EU member-states over their sea and air space.”

Speaking to reporters, European Commission spokesperson Maja Kocijancic said that the EU is urging Turkey to avoid any kind of “source of friction, threat or action directed against a member-state, which damages good-neighborly relations and the peaceful settlement of disputes.”

On Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the eastern Aegean Imia islets are “Turkish soil,” while a few days earlier the leader of the Turkish Republican People’s Party (CHP) Kemal Kilicdaroglu urged the Turkish government to “take back” 18 islets in the Aegean Sea.

The Greek Foreign Ministry had described the comments by Cavusoglu as “irresponsible and provocative” and a violation of international law.

In response, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Huseyin Muftuoglu reaffirmed Ankara’s stance.

“Turkey’s position on her sovereignty over Kardak Rocks [the Turkish name for the Imia islets] is well known by the international community since 1996. There is no change in our policy in this regard.”

But the Greek Foreign Ministry said on Friday that “publicly repeating a legally unfounded position doesn’t make it less feeble.”

On Friday Ankara issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM), ostensibly denying Greece the right to conduct military maneuvers off 11 Greek islands including Lesvos, Chios, Samos and Kastellorizo, just a few hours after issuing a similar notice regarding Greek military maneuvers south of Kasos.

The notices relate to eastern Aegean areas used by the Hellenic Armed Forces for exercises which, Ankara says, are demilitarized zones.

On Thursday, Greece’s Defense Minister Panos Kammenos sought to send a stern message to Turkey and other countries questioning Greece’s territorial integrity, declaring during a visit to a military outpost that Greece “will not accept such provocations,” accusing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of making “stupid statements” and referring to Turkey’s “total enfeeblement” following a failed coup in July.

Responding to Kammenos’s comments on Friday, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry described the Greek minister as “lack[ing] the capacity of assessing and expressing developments with a common sense” and called on him to “avoid similar statements and actions from now on by acting in compliance with state responsibility and seriousness.”