Turkey will not tolerate a step taken against the country in the Aegean or Eastern Mediterranean, the Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Monday.
“No fait accompli or step taken against Turkey in Cyprus, the Aegean or the Eastern Mediterranean will be permitted,” the defense minister Akar, the former Chief of General Staff of the Turkish Army, said during a round of military exercises near Turkey’s capital city of Ankara.
PROJECTS IN AEGEAN ‘NOT POSSIBLE’ WITHOUT TURKEY
“Everyone should know that in the Aegean and the Mediterranean no project can survive without Turkey and the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’. Everyone should know that they should avoid the provocations that can create risks in the area,” he underlined.
On Thursday, a Greek frigate trying to interfere with Barbaros Hayreddin Pasa, a Turkish seismic vessel working in the eastern Mediterranean, was blocked by the Turkish navy. The incident prompted an immediate response from Turkish officials, who warned Greece against taking actions in the Mediterranean Sea that would spark tensions in the region.