The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded with a sharp reaction to a statement by the leader of the Turkish Nationalist Action Party, Devlet Bahceli, who questioned the legality of Greek sovereignty over the Dodecanese island group in the southeastern Aegean Sea, ANA-MPA reports.
Bahceli, who is a political ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told his party's parliamentary group that “The Dodecanese were stolen with tricks from their real owner, the Turkish people“. He added that “even if Turkey can live without the Dodecanese, it is completely frivolous for the Dodecanese to live without Turkey” and that “Turkey will never give up its sovereign rights in the Blue Fatherland“ (as Turkey calls the maritime spaces it claims).
The Greek Foreign Ministry's response said that “the status of the Dodecanese follows from an international treaty, the Paris Peace Treaty of 1947“ and that “Greece, as a sovereign state, does not give up its natural and legitimate right of defense, as provided for in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter“.
“Preservation of peace requires reason and responsibility, not hostile statements. "Sovereignty issues are not up for discussion, and revisionist views must be rejected in their entirety," the Greek Foreign Ministry said.
The island group passed from Ottoman to Italian possession in 1912 after the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-1912, and in 1947, under the Paris Peace Treaty after World War II, the Dodenkas were handed over to Greece.