Ankara slams Athens’ 'futile, self-destructive effort' to shape policies based on anti-Türkiye sentiment

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) – Greece's attempt to shape its domestic and foreign policies based on anti-Türkiye sentiment is a "futile and self-destructive effort," a Turkish Foreign Ministry official said on Wednesday.

In a statement, Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Tanju Bilgic said that Greece aims to cover up its "latest scandal" in Libya with the memorandum of understanding (MoU) it signed in Cairo in the fields of Aeronautics and Maritime Search and Rescue.

Last week, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias refused to get off the plane during an aborted visit to the capital Tripoli, flouting a diplomatic protocol.

Bilgic emphasized that search and rescue zones at sea are service areas for saving human life. “These areas are not areas of sovereignty under international law," Bilgic stressed.

Noting that rules for search and rescue zones are set by the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR Convention), adopted at a Conference in Hamburg in 1979, the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman said that countries are obliged to cooperate if the service areas overlap each other.

Bilgic said the search and rescue zones at sea, declared by Türkiye and Greece in the Aegean and Mediterranean and notified to the International Maritime Organization, collide with each other.

Noting that Athens continuously refuses to cooperate with Ankara on search and rescue efforts in the Aegean and Mediterranean seas, Bilgic said that Greece's sovereignty claims in the search and rescue zones at the seas are against the SAR Convention.