Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias is signaling to Ankara that Athens will no longer ignore its bellicose behaviour, after a Turkish Coast Guard ship nearly sank the Hellenic Coast Guard vessels “Gavdos”, near the Imia islets on Monday.
“The next time, there will not be a peaceful response from the Greek side,” Kotzias said, referring to the Imia incident.
“Turkey has reached the red line, and in some sense has passed it…It will not do it again. It must not be repeated. The Turks must listen to this,” Kotzias told Greek Alpha television on Thursday.
“Greece is neither Syria, nor Iraq. We are a developed state with a good defence structure, good defence systems, and good allies with a high diplomatic capacity,” the minister said.
Kotzias said that he has instructed the foreign ministry’ legal bureau to examine how Greece might seek compensation from Turkey for the damage to the “Gavdos”.
Pushing the envelope a bit further, Kotzias announced that academic studies which prove that Turkey is in possession of rock islets that do not belong to her will be published.
