April 9 () –
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has condemned this Tuesday the Greek Government's plans to declare two new marine parks in the Aegean and Ionian seas, an action that for Ankara interferes with the “positive climate” existing between both countries.
“It is known that Greece has been trying for a long time to benefit from almost all (continental) platforms in the context of the outstanding Aegean issues. Despite the recent positive climate in our relations, it seems that Greece is exploiting environmental issues once again” , he has sentenced.
Likewise, he has urged Athens not to include on the agenda “the pending issues of the Aegean Sea and questions relating to the status of some islands, islets and rocks whose sovereignty has not been ceded to Greece by international treaties.”
“We will not accept the 'fait accompli' that Greece may create on geographical features whose status is disputed,” he said, adding that they advise “third parties, including the European Union, not to become a tool” to support Greece in their “politically motivated” attempts on the environment.
This comes after the Greek Government announced the measure with a view to the ninth international conference on the oceans, 'Our Ocean', which will be held on April 16 and 17 in Athens, according to the newspaper 'Kathimerini'.
Greece and Turkey have been in constant disagreement over recent decades over territorial issues and the dispute over the sovereignty of several of the islands in the western Mediterranean, as well as water resources.
Tensions have escalated on several occasions in recent years, with special mention to the disputes of the 1990s, which has sometimes raised fears of an internal conflict within the Atlantic Alliance, the that both countries are part of.
The devastating earthquake that affected areas of central and southern Turkey last February, with more than 51,000 dead and 107,000 injured, served to bring positions closer together thanks to the solidarity shown by Greece.
