Greek sovereignty over the Aegean is not in dispute, his spokesman repeated State DepartmentNed Price, during another press briefing.

As he characteristically added, “the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected and protected.”

When asked if the US government had given any official response to Turkey, Mr. Price replied: “Look, we will refer you to the governments (Greece and Turkey) regarding any development of their own defense technology. This is not what we should be talking about. More generally, and I think I said this the other day, we continue to call on our NATO allies – in this case Turkey and Greece – to work together to maintain peace and security in the region and resolve our differences through diplomacy. We call on all parties to refrain from rhetoric and actions that could further exacerbate tensions. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected. Greek sovereignty over these (Aegean) islands is not in dispute.”

Then the correspondent of the Turkish Anadolu agency returned to the same question in a different way, asking whether the use of American equipment in the Greek islands, in violation of international treaties, according to Ankara, is consistent with the provisions of US arms export legislation. The State Department spokesman again kept his distance and did not seem to see an indirect connection between the demilitarization of the islands and the Arms Export Control Act.

As Ned Price noted, “We always carefully review the security assistance, including potential weapons systems and supplies, that we provide to allies and partners around the world. We are fortunate to have several close security partners around the world—countries that look to the United States as the provider of the security tools they need to address often common problems and common threats. Often this comes in the form of terrorist threats and other collective challenges, but there is an ongoing process of evaluation when it comes to the security assistance we provide to any country in the world.”

At this point, an Associated Press journalist intervened to ask why, since Turkey can deploy its military equipment anywhere and any way, the US does not allow it to develop and purchase the equipment it wants. The report of an American journalist was related to the acquisition of the Russian S-400 system, while he wondered why there were no consequences for Greece.

For his part, the State Department spokesman was absolutely clear in rejecting any attempt to link the S-400 issue to the deployment of American equipment in the Aegean. As he explained, these are two completely different cases, since Greece is not interested in acquiring a specifically Russian system. Regarding Turkey, he recalled that the United States had warned in advance about the consequences of acquiring the S-400. (It’s) about sanctions imposed by Congress. “We have also made it clear that some options will have consequences” (…) “I do not think that this ally (including Greece) is interested in buying the system in question (S-400). “So these are different cases. Of course, countries around the world are free to make their own choices. There will be cases – extreme cases – where certain choices will have consequences for the United States and for our bilateral relationship,” he said.

It is recalled that in a statement released at the end of the hours-long meeting of the Turkish National Security Council (MGK), held on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ankara named “countries supporting its provocative and illegal actions of Greece in the Aegean Sea to recover.”

The announcement, released after the four-hour meeting, mentions issues such as the confrontation with Greece, efforts to fight terrorism, tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and so on.

In response to the above, the Greek Foreign Ministry states the following: “Greece does not make any claims against Turkey. He advocates dialogue based on international law. However, he will protect his legitimate interests and rights if the need arises.”

Athens’ tough response to the Turkish crescendo

Athens reacted harshly to the crescendo of threats that Ankara continued yesterday, this time with a statement from the National Security Council. The statement accused Greece of “illegal and provocative actions” and emphasized that Turkey “will not hesitate to use all kinds of legal methods and means to protect the interests and rights of our people.”

The response of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs followed immediately, emphasizing that “Turkey has no right to flagrantly violate international law and threaten Greece with war.” He repeated that Greece does not make any claims against the neighboring country and is in favor of a dialogue based on international law, but stressed that “if necessary, it will protect its legitimate interests and rights.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also speaking on CNN Turk, renewed his accusations of the militarization of the Aegean islands and blamed the US, saying “we have discovered American armored vehicles that are being used to threaten us.”

Source: RES-IPE