Greek FM Dendias meets with US ambassador in wake of Turkish provocations

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias on Monday met with US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt, the Foreign Ministry said in a post on social media.

The talks, which were held at the Foreign Ministry in Athens, focused on strategic cooperation between the two NATO allies and on latest developments in Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean “in light of provocative statements by Turkish officials,” the ministry said.

On Friday, Washington proceeded with a clear and a direct rejection of Ankara’s unfounded claims challenging Greece’s sovereignty over its islands in the eastern Aegean. 

“The sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected and protected. The sovereignty of Greece over these islands is not in question,” said a US State Department spokesman a day after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu cited the treaties of Lausanne in 1923 and Paris in 1947 to state that sovereignty of these islands was conditional on Greece not militarizing them.

Greece has always dismissed these claims, responding that as long as there is a Turkish military threat to these islands they will not be demilitarized. 

Source: ekathimerini.com