“As an ally which has paid the highest price within NATO in all aspects, we have kept our cool against the provocations of Greece which has yet to even respond to our invitations we have made for military delegation meetings in the past two years. However, we see that this patience and calmness of ours has been misunderstood by our counterpart. Türkiye neither violates anyone’s rights or law, nor lets anyone violate its own,” Erdoğan said in his speech at the event.

Erdoğan thanked all who contributed to the exercise which had been carried out since May 20 with the participation of nearly 10 thousand military personnel from 37 countries, and said: “I believe the weapons, vehicles and systems displayed at the defense industry exhibition within the exercise programme show the point our country has reached in this area. We are a country that is pleased to share all its means and capabilities in defense industry with its friends and allies. Such examples of cooperation gain even greater importance while the world is going through a deep-rooted restructuring process in political, economic, military and social terms.”

“Russia-Ukraine war has shown how fragile the global peace and stability is”

Underscoring that the Russia-Ukraine war had shown how fragile the global peace and stability was, Erdoğan said: “The conflicts and potential threats in our region indicate that the NATO alliance needs more unity and solidarity than ever.”

Expressing Türkiye’s frustration during such a critical period over the strategies that threatened Türkiye’s rights and interests emanating from international agreements in the Aegean, the Eastern Mediterranean and Cyprus, Erdoğan noted: “Some Greek politicians seek to stay at the forefront with an unprecedented recklessness as well as preposterous words and actions devoid of reality and against the law. However, there are many examples which show that such issues are so sensitive that they cannot tolerate spoilt acts aimed at internal politics, and can lead to grave results. Those who waste their energy and time as well as the resources of their countries with dreams they will never be able to achieve will definitely pay the price before history.”

“On this occasion, we once again call on Greece to stop arming demilitarized islands and act in line with international agreements. I am not joking. I am serious. Our nation is resolute, if we say something, we follow its consequences,” Erdoğan underscored, and added: “We leave the meaning of requesting a 40,000-kilometer maritime jurisdiction for Meis island, which is less than two kilometers away from our mainland but more than 600 kilometers away from Greece in the Eastern Mediterranean, to the discretion of the international community. Including demilitarized islands in various exercises and seeking to use NATO and third party countries as a tool in this unlawfulness is nothing but an effort that will have a tragic ending. Mr. Mitsotakis is probably carrying out touristic landings on the islands; it is impossible to achieve anything with that. What is more, Greece still continues to put pressure on the Turkish minorities in the western Thrace, Rhodes and Kos, ignoring international agreements, universal human rights and the values of the European Union of which it is a member.”

Further stressing that turning a blind eye to the oppressive stance of Greece, which had been convicted by the European Court of Human Rights in 1996 and 2006 due to its unlawful practices, constituted an example of double standards, Erdoğan continued as follows: “It is noteworthy that those who throw their weight around when it comes to Türkiye remain silent to Greece which disregards the European Court of Human Rights, openly support terrorist organizations and treat refugees in the most inhumane way. As an ally which has paid the highest price within NATO in all aspects, we have kept our cool against the provocations of Greece which has yet to even respond to our invitations we have made for military delegation meetings in the past two years. However, we see that this patience and calmness of ours has been misunderstood by our counterpart. Türkiye neither violates anyone’s rights or law, nor lets anyone violate its own.” (ILKHA)