A highly enlightening X that follows shows us the Turkish consistency and the way Ümit Yalim, former Secretary General of the Ministry of National Defense of Turkey, perceives the December 7th "Declaration of Friendship and Good Neighbourhood" signed in Athens by Mitsotakis and Erdogan .
Yalim: "We own the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Limnos and the Dodecanese".
Ümit Yalim (former Secretary General of Turkey's Ministry of National Defense) clarifies which Greek islands in the Aegean "belong" to Turkey according to his imagination.
Analyzing his words on paper, we point out the following:
1. With diagrams of Greek F-35 fighters taking off from Limnos-Lesvos-Samos-Rhodes-Kasos-Paphos, on a map and noting that these are stealth, it shows that all of Turkey is within their range, saying that this is very worrying and that with this move by the USA it is passing to Greece.
In fact, it is proposed to send the S-400 to Azerbaijan immediately and rejoin Turkey in the F-35 program.
Notification 1st
Here we point out that he "forgot" to put on the map the Turkish TAYFUN-BORA-KASIRGA and ATMACA missiles that threaten the Greek territory and to refer to Erdogan's direct threats to Athens and Thessaloniki that they will be hit by the TAYFUNs.
Greece is also known not to threaten Turkey with an attack, but the Turks are the ones who have the casus belli against our country in force.
Consequently, only if Turkey attacks us, the Greek F-35s will act against the neighbors.
2. He then mentioned that Greece occupied another 20 islands, citing the example of the Alimia Island NW of Rhodes, where the Greek President of the Republic goes, and not the Turks.
He clarified that it is easy to take them back, but the matter stumbles the Turkish leadership which does nothing about it.
Notification 2nd
If it is so easy to occupy the Greek islands as he says, why didn't his country dare to do it from 1974 until today?
Finally, the status of the islands in the Aegean is determined by International Treaties that are not amenable to a la Turka interpretation.
3. Then referring to Erdoğan's visit to Athens and the possibility of Turkish tourists visiting 10 of our islands in the Aegean without a visa, he pointed out that 4 of these islands, Limnos-Lesvos-Chios-Samos, are Turkish.
While he subsequently canceled the Treaty of Paris 1947 where Italy ceded the Dodecanese to Greece claiming that it is not legal according to International Law and that Greece has no right to sovereignty over them.
Notification 3rd
With reference to the section on what the Peace treaties of Lausanne 1923 and Paris 1947 provide, which is invoked by the Turkish former Secretary General of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ümit Yalim, we answer:
A. Limnos-Samothraki-Imbros-Tenedos-Lagousa Islands
The Treaty of Lausanne 1923 actually imposes a regime of total demilitarization on the above islands. But with the Montreux Convention of 1936 the rearmament of the Straits zone is allowed, while in the preamble of the said newer Convention it is expressly mentioned that it replaces the Lausanne Convention.
In support of the above, there is a letter dated May 6, 1936 from the Turkish Ambassador in Athens, Rusen Esref, to the then Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas, where he explicitly states:
At the behest of my Government, we are entirely in agreement with regard to the militarization of these two islands of Lemnos and Samothrace at the same time as the equipping of the Straits."
But also the Turkish Foreign Minister, Roustu Aras, in the Turkish parliament (National Assembly), during the process of ratifying the Montreux Convention, had stated verbatim:
"Οι διατάξεις που αναφέρονται στα νησιά Λήμνος και Σαμοθράκη, τα οποία ανήκουν στη φίλη και γείτονα Ελλάδα και ήσαν αποστρατικοποιημένα βάσει των σχετικών διατάξεων της Σύμβασης της Λωζάννης καταργούνται και αυτές από τη Σύμβαση του Μοντραί".
And finally, is it a legal arbitrariness or not the interpretation by Turkey, that the demilitarization obligations apply to Lemnos and Samothrace which belong to Greece, but not to Imbro, Tenedos and Lagos Islands which belong to Turkey?
It should be noted that now a Turkish Commando Regiment is based in Imbro and a Turkish Commando Company is located in Tenedo.
B. Lesvos-Chios-Samos-Ikaria
The Treaty of Lausanne 1923 nowhere mentions any limitation in any kind of military work (radar etc.) nor in air bases, nor in any special procedure for controlling the number of military and police forces.
Verbatimly, it even states that "The Greek military forces in the said islands will be limited to the usual number of those called up for military service, who can be trained on the spot, as well as a force of gendarmerie and police proportional to the entire Greek territory existing such ". (article 13)
C. Dodecanese (Treaty of Paris 1947)
According to article 15 of the Treaty of Lausanne, "Turkey renounces in favor of Italy all rights and title to the islands listed below, namely Astipalaia, Rhodes, Chalkis, Karpathos, Kassos, Tilos, Nisyros, Kalymnos, Leros, Patmos, Lipsos , Symi and Kos, of those currently occupied by Italy and the islets dependent on them, as well as the island of Kastellorizos".
Furthermore, Article 14 of the Paris Peace Treaty (10.12.1947) provides: "Italy cedes to Greece in full sovereignty the islands of the Dodecanese listed below, namely: Astypalaion, Rhodon, Halkin, Karpathon, Casson, Tilon, Nisyron , Kalymnon, Leron, Patmon, Lipson, Symi, Kos and Kastellorizon, as well as the adjacent islands".
Turkey was not a party to the Paris Treaty.
Finally, Greece invokes Article 51 of the UN Charter which invokes its right to legitimate defense and for this reason it has made the necessary defense preparations on its islands that will allow it to exercise its right of legitimate self-defense.
