Greek defense minister hopes Türkiye drops 'Blue Homeland' bill
He claimed that Greece faces a "declared and clear threat" from Türkiye, while also criticizing the alleged scrambling of Turkish F-16s that intercepted aircraft carrying several European defense ministers.
'I hope Türkiye does not proceed with the Blue Homeland bill'
Dendias said he hoped Ankara would not pursue draft legislation codifying its maritime doctrine.
"Imagine Greece tabling a bill in parliament that placed Greek borders somewhere in the middle of Turkish geographic space. What would Türkiye say about that? What would the international community say?" he said.
"These are not permissible things. I express the hope, not a prediction, that Türkiye will not proceed with such a move," he added.
He said Greece faced "a declared and clear threat" that he said referenced a casus belli backed by a Turkish Parliament resolution, and that Greek territorial claims were being continuously exceeded outside the framework of international law.
Greek defense minister on June 7 airspace incident
Dendias described the interception of ministerial flights over Cyprus as "unjustified."
"There was no reason for Türkiye to do this, no reason to scramble F-16s," he said, adding: "I will not play the Turkish game and exacerbate an already tense atmosphere between us and our neighboring country."
However, Türkiye's Defense Ministry had already issued a detailed public statement on the same incident, saying that on June 7, four out of six flights operating on the Greece-Greek Cyprus Administration route had violated Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) airspace, prompting two F-16s on alert duty in Turkish Cyprus to be scrambled as a precautionary measure.
The ministry explicitly stated that Turkish aircraft operated exclusively within TRNC airspace, did not violate Greek Cyprus airspace, and did not harass the relevant traffic.
The Turkish ministry called the Greek media's claims of harassment "organized and deliberately provocative."
Dendias also said the incident had been raised at the EU Council by Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister Vasilis Palmas and framed it as an EU responsibility to defend the unified European space.
Source:turkiyetoday
