Greece insincere, dishonest on Aegean, East Mediterranean issues: Cavusoglu

Türkiye slammed Greece over its "insincere" and "dishonest" position on the Aegean and East Mediterranean issues.

Speaking at an event by the Political, Economic and Social Research Foundation (SETA) think-tank based in the Turkish capital Ankara on Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Athens blocks the pathway to justice on existing issues.

Asked about claims of Greece preparing an attack on Türkiye, Cavusoglu said it would mean Athens has "lost its senses."

Saying that Athens knows very well what it means to confront Ankara, the minister reminded Greece to "not look at who is behind you, but rather look at who you are facing."

Cavusoglu criticized Greece for being a "safe haven for many terrorist organizations like the PKK and FETO," and said Athens did not respond to Ankara's call to establish a joint centre for fighting terrorism.

He further said Greece violates the rights of the Turkish minority in Western Thrace and it perceives the Aegean as a "Greek Sea" only while disregarding Türkiye's rights and interests.

"At least 16 of 23 islands in the Aegean Sea, which should have been demilitarized according to agreements, are armed by Greece," he added.

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Double standards

The top Turkish diplomat criticised the approach of Europe and the US on the Türkiye-Greece relations, accusing Europe of double standards.

Expressing Ankara's readiness to resolve disputes if Greece wants to, Cavusoglu said it is not possible due to Athens disregarding the exploratory talks.

"Greece is blocking the pathway for international law and jurisprudence to resolve problems," he said, adding that it tries to "impose their maximalist understanding" on Türkiye.

On the eastern Mediterranean, Cavusoglu said his country has "two very important components."

"One of them is to protect the rights of our country and the second one is to protect the fundamental rights and interests of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus."

"We will continue to carry out our drilling activities, we will protect our rights and the rights of the TRNC," Cavusoglu added.

READ MORE: Ankara dismisses Greek claims that Turkish forces entered their waters

Ties with Egypt

Answering a question about Egypt's announcing halt in the normalization of ties with Türkiye, Cavusoglu said there are other countries with which Ankara is carrying out talks for normalization, but the process with Egypt is moving more slowly.

"We are not the reason for this," the Turkish foreign minister said, affirming that the latest hydrocarbon deal with Libya is not against Egypt.

"If Egypt signs an agreement with us, it will gain much more maritime jurisdiction than the agreement it made with Greece. We are talking about 40,000 square kilometres (15,400 square miles)," he said.

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