I had answered to all the Turkish objections,
but the thread and the posts were deleted.
So again.....
Turkey is the only country that refers to and demands the demilitarization of the “islands in the Eastern Aegean”.
With regard to the militarization of the islands in the Eastern Aegean,
various international agreements apply.
In particular :
- the status of the islands of Limnos and Samothrace is governed by the 1923 Lausanne Treaty on the Straits, which has been replaced by the 1936 Montreux Treaty;
- the status of the islands of Mytilene, Chios, Samos and Ikaria, is governed by the 1923 Lausanne Peace Treaty; and
- the status of the Dodecanese islands is governed by the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty.
More specifically..........
- In article 13 of the Lausanne Treaty there is no mention of the terms “demilitarized”, “demilitarization” or “demilitarization regime”; instead, the said article makes reference to specific military restrictions and only in respect of four islands of the Eastern Aegean, namely, Mytilene, Chios, Samos and Icaria.
- The fact that the Eastern Aegean islands are falsely considered from the Turkey to be “lying on [the] prolongation” of the Anatolian mainland and as related to the “defence and security” of the latter is indicative of Turkey’s intention to challenge Greece’s sovereignty over those islands.
- With respect to the Dodecanese islands, it should be underlined that the 1947 Paris Treaty of Peace with Italy ceded full and unconditional sovereignty to Greece over them and the adjacent islets. It should be additionally noted that the provisions of the said Treaty, including those relating to demilitarization, are res inter alios acta and cannot be invoked by Turkey, which is not a party to that Treaty. This is also confirmed by article 89 of the Treaty, according to which its provisions shall not confer any rights and benefits to States that are not parties to it.
- Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974, in violation of the Cyprus Treaty of Guarantee, to which Greece is a signatory state, and despite the numerous United Nations Security Council and General Assembly Resolutions to the contrary, still continues to maintain substantial military forces in the occupied territories.
- Turkey systematically violates Greek Air Space, and its military aircraft, often armed, fly over inhabited Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, which raises serious security concerns.
- Turkey over the past six decades, has maintained a significant number of military units, aircraft and landing craft at points on the coast of Asia Minor just across from the Greek islands, which is a serious threat against Greece.
- Furthermore, and in order to complete the Turkey’s regional profile, one should take into consideration that Turkey has invaded and illegally occupies, apart from a part of Cyprus, also parts of Iraq and Syria, claiming that it has done so out of concerns for its security. In addition, it still refuses to withdraw its military forces and mercenaries from Libya, defying relevant persistent calls by the entire international community, in the context of the latter’s endeavours for a peaceful solution to the Libyan crisis
Is there any threat to the Greek islands from Turkey?
First threat came from the sea, and is the Amphibious
Marine Brigade (Amfibi Deniz Piyade Tugayı), also known as Amphibious Commando ( Amfibi Komando), is the marine corps unit of the
Turkish Naval Forces based in Phocaea near Smyrna , facing Lesvos island, where they exist three amphibious battalions, an MBT battalion, an artillery battalion, a support battalion and other company-sized units.
Has been founded in 1966!!!!
At the base we could clearly see at least 35 landing craft.
Second threat came from the air, are the
2nd Land Aviation Regiment (Erhaç Airport, Malatya) and
3rd Land Aviation Regiment (Gaziemir Air Base, Smyrna), with the about 100 transport helicopters (S-70A17/19 Blackhawk and AS-532UL Cougar) as also and the 35 attack helicopters (T-129 ATAK, AH-1P Cobra).
All the above turkish military units a
re facing the Greek islands.
Which we imagine are not going to land in Indonesia, Australia, Syria, France etc.
So.......
Greece reiterates its position that it is fully justified in taking all elementary precautionary measures to ensure that it will be able to exercise its inalienable right to self-defence
on the basis of Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, in particular given the above-mentioned conduct of Turkey since 1974.
The Turkish military threat is real,
what is threatened is not demilitarized.