“If we try to refer to things that do not have an essential basis, then we will also talk about the massacres committed (by the Greeks) in Anatolia in 1919-1922. There was also a massacre called “Tripoli”, noted Mr. Turk defense minister, Hulusi Akaranswering a journalist’s question about the statements of Greek politicians regarding the Pontic genocide.

He also added that such statements “delay reaching agreements and harm both sides.”

Referring to Anat. Mediterranean and Cyprus, the Turkish Defense Minister stressed: “We never give up our rights, we never give up our rights before a fait accompli. We will never allow our rights or the rights of our Cypriot brothers in the Aegean and Mediterranean to be violated.”

Akar’s full statement

“When we are in such a period, that is, when such a process is taking place, it is very unfortunate to suddenly go out and say so, use such an expression, refer to “ponto”, etc. This is simply unfortunate. If you try to put it this way, appeal to things that do not have a substantive basis, then we will say more. (Let’s talk about) the massacres they committed in Anatolia in 1919-1922. There was also a massacre called “Tripoli”. Massacre of all people in this city. So, if we come to these things, they will go on forever.

That is why we say not to enter them. Let historians read, write and do these things. We offer mutual dialogue. And the dialogues have different stages. Among them, our activities as a ministry are measures to strengthen mutual confidence. There are separate actions that we are taking as part of confidence-building measures. – We raised it with our interlocutor, who was then the head of the hydroelectric power station, and then became a minister, we both became ministers. We said that the problems in the Aegean, the Turkish-Greek problems are not so simple. These are not problems that can be solved right away, so let’s form delegations. Let the delegations meet. Let experts who have known the topic for a long time chat and find a solution. In fact, they accepted it. Twice our delegations went to Athens and their delegations came here. We said to resume these meetings. The Minister of Defense of Greece arrived in Hatay. We sat and talked. Let’s resume negotiations after the elections, we said, and continue our contacts, let’s solve our problems in a civilized way, through dialogue, in this international context.

So now, while this process is going on… maybe because of the pre-election atmosphere, maybe in the context of the elections, they did something like that. This is very wrong, this is unacceptable. It cannot be accepted. We categorically reject this. We just can’t accept it. And, as we have always said, the Armenian question, the Greek question, all this is the business of historians… Let them work, sir. We continue. If they are trying to achieve something by silencing us or suppressing us, or trying to expose us by influencing world opinion with a series of accusations that are never backed up by anything, know that they will not achieve anything.

This will only delay the process. This delays mutual agreements and harms both parties. We always say that we are good neighbors. We always say that we are for international law. We say that we must solve our problems through negotiations, by peaceful means and methods. But we also say that you should never misunderstand us, because this is not a weakness. We never give up our rights, we never give up our rights before a fait accompli. We will never allow our rights or the rights of our Cypriot brothers in the Aegean and Mediterranean to be violated. And it’s not a threat.”