Ankara has claimed that the Greek side violated the 1988 Memorandum of Understanding signed in Athens, which prohibits the use of the Aegean Sea as a military training area during the high tourist season from June 15 to September 15
According to EADaily, state news agency Anadolu has reported that the day before, on June 23, Turkey issued, a navtex alert declaring the international waters of the Aegean Sea a “military training zone” in response to Greece’s earlier actions in the Eastern Mediterranean.
“Turkey and Greece are embroiled in decades-long territorial disputes in the eastern Mediterranean, which were added last year by a confrontation between two southern NATO member states over oil and gas exploration in the region. Turkey has sent its seismic survey ships to the Greek islands and Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone, prompting Athens to retaliate, including by landing additional forces on the Greek islands immediately adjacent to Turkish territory”, – the report said.
Turkey declared the Aegean Sea a “military training zone” after diplomatic attempts to persuade Greece to change its “destabilising course” failed, Anadolu points out, citing military sources in Ankara. It is also claimed that Greece last violated the above-mentioned memorandum on May 19, the bank holidays of the Republic of Turkey – the beginning of the War of Independence.