Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Greece of violating the Lausanne Treatyreturning, for the hundredth time, volumeTurkish rhetoric about the militarization of the islandsand he also answered to what Kyriakos Mitsotakis mentioned yesterday from Davos.

“We find that the conditions of Lausanne and as regards the islands are not applied by the Greek officials. There can be no militarization of the islands. But these islands are militarized. And so they are taking steps contrary to the Lausanne Treaty and other treaties. We are taking the necessary steps, we are responding to international forums as needed. And they will do what they have to do,” the Turkish President characteristically said in his statements on Friday.

Commenting on the cover of The Economist, which described him, in fact, a “dictator”, R. Erdogan critically remarked: “The future of Turkey is determined by a British magazine? It’s up to my people. And in Turkey, what my people say is done.”

Regarding Mitsotaki’s statements

“Mitsotakis can say what he wants, but his statements are not enough to change the fate of the region” – he added, referring to yesterday’s statement by the Prime Minister of Greece.

Recall that the Prime Minister, among other things, declares that “we will not go to war with Turkey, but over the past three years we have experienced a lot of tension, and not only because of Kastelorizo. He added that “we should be able to sit down with Turkey as reasonable adults and discuss the issue of the continental shelf and maritime zones in the Aegean”, noting that “we have successfully done this with Italy and Egypt and with Albania. We will refer the matter to The Hague and he will make a decision.”

Continuing to refer to the Greek-Turkish language, Mr. Mitsotakis said that as long as there is an agreement on the rules, that is, international law, channels of communication can remain open, implicitly but clearly accusing Ankara of using foreign policy for internal reasons.

“There are ways to reduce tensions, work on issues of mutual interest, agree to disagree”, but, “even if we agree to disagree, we can do it in a civilized way”, without threats, and concluded: “I don’t think that with Erdogan is unlikely to find a solution.”

However, he stressed that “there are issues that are not negotiable”, such as the sovereignty of the Greek islands or the agreement with Libya, which ignores the rights of Crete. “If we limit the discussion to real problems, we can find solutions.”

Finally, he also hinted at Turkey’s role in NATO, stating that “Mr. Erdogan is not helping the Alliance at a time when it should be torn apart. And while not imposing sanctions on Russia, we have a leak on that front.”