Turkish FM lashes out at ‘provocative’ Kammenos

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has rebuffed Greek accusations that Ankara is escalating tensions in the Aegean, and attributed the recent friction to Athens, citing “provocative” comments by Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, the leader of the junior coalition party, the Independent Greeks (ANEL).

“That defense minister of that racist party is provoking,” he told CNN Turk on Saturday morning, adding that if Turkish troops were not calm and col- lected in the face of so “many provocations,” then an “accident” between the two countries over the Imia islets in the southeastern Aegean – whose Greek sovereignty Turkey disputes – would have already occurred by now.

“We don’t want [an accident] and we have many times warned,” Cavusoglu said, adding however that despite the tension, exploratory contacts between the two countries are continuing.