ATHENS, Greece (AP) – The Greek prime minister on Monday called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to clarify whether a map shown by a nationalist ally of Erdogan’s showing several large, inhabited Greek islands as Turkish is official Turkish policy.
Greece and Turkey have been at odds for decades over a range of issues, including disputes over submarine exploration rights in the Aegean and the sovereignty of uninhabited islets. The two neighbors have been on the brink of war three times in the past half century.
Tensions have risen again in the past two years. Recent spats have centered on the Greek islands off Turkey, where Ankara has accused Athens of maintaining a military presence in violation of treaties. Greece argues that it is acting in accordance with international law and defending its islands against Turkish hostility.
“Look closely at this map. Crete, Rhodes, Lesvos, Chios, Samos, all consumed by Turkey,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis tweeted Monday, along with a photo of Devlet Bahceli, the leader of a nationalist party affiliated with Erdogan, holding up a map showing Crete, the largest island in Greece. , and all Eastern Aegean Greek islands as Turks.
“Α Fever dream of extremists or Turkey’s official policy? Another provocation or the real target? President Erdogan must clarify his position on the latest antics of his junior coalition partner,” Mitsotakis tweeted.
The card was a gift to Bahceli from the ultra-nationalist Gray Wolves group, the youth organization affiliated with Bahceli’s National Movement Part, or MHP.
The head of the Gray Wolves, Ahmet Yigit Yildirim, tweeted the photo with Bahceli and the map on Sunday, saying it was “to show the national consciousness frontier of our islands where the glorious Turkish flag has fluttered for hundreds of years, but which has crossed Greece.” was appropriated.”
