Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on Thursday that for T\u00fcrkiye to access EU defense funds, it must lift the 30-year “threat of war” against Greece.<\/p>\n
In 1995, the Grand National Assembly of T\u00fcrkiye (TBMM) declared Greece’s unilateral extension of its territorial waters in the Aegean Sea beyond 6 nautical miles a “reason for war” (“casus belli”).<\/p>\n
“If T\u00fcrkiye seeks access to European defense financing instruments, the legitimate concerns of Greece and Cyprus must be considered,” stated the Greek leader.<\/p>\n
Referring to projects such as European Security Action (SAFE), the EU’s new fund for weapons acquisition, Mitsotakis said, “Thirty years have passed since the notorious ‘casus belli’ was voted on by the Turkish national assembly. After 30 years, I believe it is time to directly ask our Turkish friends to remove this from the agenda.”<\/p>\n
Mitsotakis indicated that he would convey this message to President Tayyip Erdo\u011fan soon, citing improving bilateral relations. This meeting could take place at the NATO summit in The Hague at the end of June.<\/p>\n
The Greek leader emphasized that any agreement between the EU and a third country, such as T\u00fcrkiye, must be unanimously approved by all EU member states, in accordance with Article 212 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.<\/p>\n
This condition could give Greece and Cyprus leverage in making T\u00fcrkiye’s access to defense initiatives conditional under the SAFE regulation, which will be finalized on May 27.<\/p>\n
While SAFE was adopted by a qualified majority vote, Greece highlighted the use of the phrase “like-minded” in the final text, stressing that this was a gesture of compromise.<\/p>\n
According to Reuters<\/em>, when asked about Greece’s efforts to exclude T\u00fcrkiye from EU defense projects, a source from the Turkish Ministry of Defense stated that any attempt to disregard T\u00fcrkiye’s importance for European security is doomed to fail.<\/p>\n “Carrying bilateral disagreements to multilateral platforms and adopting an approach that aims to exclude our country is neither a step taken with good faith nor is it wise,” the source remarked.<\/p>\n The source added, “T\u00fcrkiye is an important part of Europe’s security architecture,” citing the country’s NATO membership, defense industry, and role in regional crisis management.<\/p>\n Turkish officials reiterated that EU membership remains a strategic goal, pointing to common interests in defense, counter-terrorism, and migration management.<\/p>\n Ankara and Athens are exploring whether they can begin negotiations to delineate their maritime borders. Mitsotakis announced that a high-level meeting between the two countries would take place in the coming months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on Thursday that for T\u00fcrkiye to access EU defense funds, it must lift the 30-year “threat of war” against Greece. In 1995, the Grand National Assembly of T\u00fcrkiye (TBMM) declared Greece’s unilateral extension of its territorial waters in the Aegean Sea beyond 6 nautical miles a “reason for war” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[598,10185,1312,10184,7124,10186,7926,805,579,1200,10187,1453,1448,409],"class_list":["post-9660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diplomacy","tag-bilateral-relations","tag-casus-belli","tag-counter-terrorism","tag-defense-funds","tag-eu-defense-funding","tag-european-security-action-safe","tag-european-security-architecture","tag-european-union","tag-greece","tag-kyriakos-mitsotakis","tag-multilateral-platforms","tag-nato-summit","tag-recep-tayyip-erdogan","tag-turkiye"],"yoast_head":"\n