The United States should take action against the PKK terrorist group and its Syrian offshoot, the YPG, if it truly understands Turkey’s concerns as it claims, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Thursday as he criticized Washington for cooperating with terrorists.
Speaking to reporters on his way back from Israel after a groundbreaking meeting, Çavuşoğlu said the threat against Turkey in the Operation Peace Spring zone and other regions in northern Syria has increased.
“If threats are increasing then we’re obliged to take action against this,” the foreign minister said.
He continued by saying that U.S. officials claim to understand Turkey’s concerns but fail to take action.
He noted that Washington has failed to keep its promise to push terrorist groups 30 kilometers (18.64 miles) away from Turkey’s borders.
“Terrorist attacks are on the rise and Turkey cannot just sit down and wait for them to attack us,” he said.
The PKK terrorist organization and its Syrian wing still pose a threat to Turkey and Syrians living close to the border despite pledges by both the United States and Russia to withdraw the terrorists 30 kilometers from Turkey’s southern border.
Turkey made separate agreements with the U.S. and Russia on the withdrawal of YPG/PKK elements as the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) were carrying out Operation Peace Spring, which began on Oct. 9, 2019, in northern Syria.
After pledging to pull the YPG/PKK terrorist group 30 kilometers from Turkey's southern border in line with agreements, the U.S. and Russia have yet to live up to their promises after 2 1/2 years.
Turkey's top diplomat also criticized Greece for arming the demilitarized islands in the Aegean, contrary to the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and the 1947 Paris Treaty.
“Whatever Greece’s justification is, it is not legitimate,” Çavuşoğlu said, adding that Athens has been arming the islands since the 1960s.
He stressed that Greece’s steps threaten Turkey’s security and underlined that Ankara will be after Athens regarding the violations.
Starting from the Treaty of London in 1913, the militarization of the eastern Aegean islands was restricted and their demilitarized status was confirmed with the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. The Lausanne pact established a political balance between the two countries by harmonizing vital interests, including those in the Aegean.
The 1947 Treaty of Paris, which ceded the Dodecanese islands from Italy to Greece, also confirmed their demilitarized status.
However, Greece argues that the 1936 Montreux Convention on Turkish Straits should be applied in this case, while Ankara says Greece's obligation to disarm the islands remains unchanged under the Montreux Convention, highlighting that there is no provision that differentiates it from the Treaty of Lausanne on the issue.
Greece gradually began to militarize the islands after 1960, quickening the pace after the Cyprus crisis of 1974.
Greece has 7,500 soldiers on the islands of Chios (Sakız) and Symi (Sömbeki) and commandos on the island of Rhodes (Rodos) as well as six army bases, two naval bases and two helicopter bases on the islands.
The rearming of the demilitarized Aegean islands has always been a subject of contention between the two countries, especially after the 1960s when relations between Ankara and Athens turned sour over the Cyprus question and Greece's extended claims over Aegean airspace and territorial waters. Turkey's first reaction to Greece's arming of the islands in the Aegean was a diplomatic note given to Athens on June 29, 1964.
Apart from the militarization of eastern Aegean islands, the threat of extending Greek territorial waters beyond their present width of 6 miles (9.6 kilometers), a 10-mile "national air space" over 6 miles of territorial waters and abuse of the flight information region (FIR) responsibility are the main underlying causes of the conflict between Turkey and Greece in the Aegean.
