Türkiye slams Greece for aeronautical, maritime MOU with Egypt

ANKARA

Greece’s main motive behind signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Egypt in the fields of aeronautical and maritime search and rescue is its “desire to whitewash” the facts and the latest scandal it caused in Libya, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç said on Nov. 23.

Maritime search and rescue regions declared by Türkiye and Greece in the Aegean and the Mediterranean and notified to the International Maritime Organization overlap with each other, and Athens has always refrained from cooperating with Ankara on this issue and has also rejected agreement proposals that Türkiye made in the past, Bilgiç said in a statement.

“This stems from the unlawful Greek position to regard search and rescue service regions as areas of sovereignty and thus to make a connection accordingly to further its maximalist maritime boundary claims,” he stated.

Such an approach by Athens is “illegal as it is in contravention of the 1979 Hamburg Convention,” the spokesperson said.

It is a “grave contradiction” for a country to sign a memorandum of understanding on search and rescue in the eastern Mediterranean, which “puts innocent people’s lives at risk and pushes them back” in the Aegean in violation of international law, Bilgiç stated.

“The attempt to shape Greece’s domestic and foreign policy within the framework of anti-Türkiye sentiment is a futile and only self-destructive effort,” he added.

Türkiye will continue to protect both its rights and the rights of Turkish Cyprus resolutely by increasing cooperation and coordination with all key stakeholders in the Eastern Mediterranean and beyond, Bilgiç said, adding, “Probably, this is the reason for the recent hysteria in Greece.”

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias refused to get off the plane last week during an aborted visit to Libya.

Greek Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos and his Egyptian counterpart, Mohamed Zaki, signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Cairo on Nov. 22 in the fields of aeronautical and maritime search and rescue.