Just two days before Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives in Athens and Ankara has given another example of its unchanging revisionist policy.
Greece, as it has the right to do, issued NOC A4368/23 in which it blocked three areas for an aerial exercise by the Greek navy and air force from December 8 to the 14th.
The two areas are adjacent to Chios, Psara and Samos and the third is east of Karpathos.
Turkey has therefore issued NOTAM A9211/23 in which it states that Greece is violating the Lausanne Treaty and the demilitarization of islands it stipulates by proceeding with an exercise and the NOTAM it has issued contains the islands of Chios, Samos and Psara which have a demilitarized status.
48 hours before he sets foot in Athens, Erdogan orders that no exercises should take place on the Greek islands.
It should be remembered that according to what TRT reported the day before yesterday: "Erdogan made statements and answered reporters' questions during the flight back from Dubai where he participated in the Global Climate Action Summit held at Expo City Dubai in the framework of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change.
Erdogan said he will pay a visit to Greece on December 7 for the fifth meeting of the Supreme Cooperation Council.
In response to the question, "the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, made a statement in the last few days. He said that cooperation with Turkey is imperative. What do you think this statement by Mitsotakis means? Will a new era begin between the two countries, especially after the meeting of the High Cooperation Council?" the President of the Republic said:
"Our wish is that a new era has begun."
Recalling that he always states that "they try to increase friends and decrease enemies," Erdogan said the following:
"It is not right for two countries with an intertwined past to march with voices that still foment enmity. And from another point of view, who is causing us to be angry? At this point, if we look, some people, especially the United States of America, are trying to turn one of us against the other. Of course we are not going to back down. We are going to visit our neighbour who is right next door, sit down and talk. If we do not engage in behaviour that would harm each other's interests, there is no question. We continue on our course as before.
Of course, we have differences of opinion and there are deep issues that cannot be resolved quickly. However, there are also chapters that we can resolve immediately and which will broaden the basis for cooperation. If we start a new era, keep the promises that have been made and develop these relations at a level free of external influences, I am sure we will come out ahead.
Our concept of foreign policy is not "I always win and the other side always loses". We will go to Athens with a win-win concept. There we will discuss both our bilateral relations and Turkey-EU relations in order to take decisions that fit the spirit of the new era."
