Foreign ministry supports Athens in face of growing Turkish threats

An alarmed foreign ministry in Nicosia on Monday said that said it was monitoring the intensification of Turkish rhetoric against Greece, which it said contributes to a climate of tension, after Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan made a slew of aggressive statements over the weekend.

“We are watching with disappointment and concern the intensification of Turkish rhetorical insanity, this time with unhistorical statements and public threats by the Turkish President against Greece and the Greek people,” the Cyprus foreign ministry said in a statement.

Of late, Erdogan has played up achievements in the global stage and has also stepped up his rhetoric on foreign policy as he prepares for what is shaping up to be the biggest electoral challenge of his nearly 20-year rule in 2023.

Erdogan accused Greece on Saturday of occupying islands in the Aegean Sea that have a demilitarised status, and said Turkey was prepared to “do what is necessary” when the time comes.

Ankara says the Aegean islands were given to Greece under the 1923 and 1947 treaties on condition that it does not arm them. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has repeatedly said Turkey would start questioning Greek sovereignty over the islands if Athens persisted in arming them.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said Turkey’s position of questioning Greece’s sovereignty over the islands is “absurd”.

Ankara recently accused Athens of arming the demilitarised Aegean islands – something Athens rejects, but Erdogan had not previously accused Greece of occupying them.

“Your occupying the islands does not bind us. When the time, the hour, comes, we will do what is necessary,” Erdogan said, speaking in the northern province of Samsun.

Most recently, Turkey had been angered by what it said is harassment of its jets by Greek forces. Ankara has said that S-300 air defence systems used by Greece had locked on to Turkish jets during a routine flight.

In support of Greece, Nicosia condemned Turkey’s “hybrid behaviour”, which it said is contrary to international law but also to the general effort to build good neighbourly relations, “which is essential for creating conditions of security and prosperity in the Mediterranean region”.

For its part, Greece reacted by saying it will not follow Turkey in its “outrageous daily slide” of statements and threats.

“We will inform our allies and partners on the content of the provocative statements … to make it clear who is setting dynamite to the cohesion of our alliance during a dangerous period,” the foreign ministry said.

“Such statements, coming from the president of Turkey, are unacceptable and offensive and contribute to the climate of tension that Turkey is trying to create against the EU and its member states. We express our full solidarity and sympathy to Greece and to the Greek people.”