Athens shrugs off Turkish allegations
A day after Turkey accused Greece of “pursuing provocative rhetoric and activities,” the Foreign Ministry in Athens shrugged off the allegations as paradoxical and accused Ankara of challenging the country’s territorial integrity.
“Greece remains committed to its respect for international law and to the protection of the country’s national interests,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexandros Papaioannou said in a statement in Greek Wednesday.
“It is paradoxical that a country that has repeatedly over the past few days issued a number of aggressive statements through the lips of government officials who are directly threatening Greece and who even question its territorial integrity, would accuse our country of [engaging in] ‘provocative rhetoric and activities’,” he said.
Papaioannou said that “Greece will continue to build ties with neighboring and other countries in the context of respect for international law and good neighborly relations,” and urged Turkey to “respect these fundamental principles.”
He added that Greece will continue to strengthen its alliances and partnerships, emphasizing that these are only designed to serve defensive objectives.
“Greece makes no unlawful unilateral claim and it maintains its legal right to self-defense in line with the Charter of the United Nations,” the Greek diplomat said.
