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Opposition calls for emergency meeting of Parliament committee to discuss Turkey

Opposition calls for emergency meeting of Parliament committee to discuss Turkey

New Democracy has asked for an immediate session of Parliament’s defence committee so MPs can discuss the latest developments in Greek-Turkish relations.

The conservatives have proposed that the committee should hold an emergency session behind closed doors after a Turkish coast guard vessel rammed a Greek patrol boat off the coast of the Imia islets in the Aegean on Monday night.

On Tuesday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry claimed in a statement that the islets belong to Turkey, while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Greece and Cyprus not to “step out of line” in the Aegean and the Mediterranean.

“These are the latest links in the chain of provocations that have followed Erdogan’s visit to our country,” said New Democracy’s shadow foreign minister Giorgos Koumoutsakos. He called on the government to immediately inform Greece’s partners and allies.

Koumoutsakos had submitted a question to Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias on February 2 regarding Turkish activity in the Aegean but it has not been answered yet.

New Democracy sources welcomed the telephone conversation between Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Turkish counterpart Benali Yildirim on Tuesday but added that the conservatives felt Tsipras should have made it clear to his opposite number that there are no “grey zones” in the Aegean and the Imia islets belong to Greece.

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