Fresh footage shows Greek deployment of weapons, troops on Aegean island

Anadolu Agency has filmed Greece's militarisation of Keci (Pserimos) island, eight kilometres southwest of the Bodrum peninsula, and its deployment of soldiers there.

Keci island, which is located between the Greek islands of Kos and Kalymnos, is the closest island to the Turgutreis neighbourhood of Türkiye's southwestern Bodrum resort city.

Gursel Tokmakoglu, a retired senior Air Force officer and security analyst, said Keci is a Turkish island due to its proximity to the Turkish mainland under Article 12 of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne.

A footage recorded the Greek troops and heavy weapons deployed on the island.

Trenches, shelters

Accordingly, a helipad, four prefabricated buildings, guard and watch towers, transmitters, water tanks, and solar panels can clearly be seen.

Greek soldiers are seen in their military camouflage around stone structures resembling to trenches or shelters.

Also, Greek artillery batteries, though covered, around the Greek flag drawn on the land can be spotted.

Tokmakoglu said that Greece wants to claim Keci by deploying troops and heavy weapons on the Turkish island, which is a clear violation of international law.

The facilities on the island, as well as the weapons, should not exist on the island, this is what the Treaty of Lausanne requires, he further said.

"Building a facility at a point just across Türkiye, putting a (Greek) flag on an area where it can be seen by fishermen and tour boats sailing from Türkiye actually constitute a provocation," he argued.

Keci, which is supposed to remain uninhabited and demilitarised according to international law, hit the headlines with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ recent visit to the island.

Mitsotakis shared a photo of the Greek flag drawn on the island on his social media account.

READ MORE: Explained: Greek militarisation of Eastern Aegean islands in 5 questions

Greece violating non-military status

Despite Türkiye's opposition and the obligations arising from international agreements, Greece has been militarising the islands since 1960, violating their non-military status.

Although Greece accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice in 1993, it made a reservation about "national security interests" to prevent the issue of Eastern Aegean islands from being referred to the International Court of Justice.

The islands of Samothraki, Lemnos, Lesvos, Samos, Chios, Psara, and Ikaria are supposed to be demilitarised today, while Greece violates the agreements by deploying brigades and divisions, as well as cannons and rifles.

Greece adopts the same attitude in the islands of Patmos, Leros, Kalymnos, Kos, Tilos, Karpathos, Symi, Rhodes, and Meis, and violates the law in nine of the 14 Dodecanese islands.

In total, Athens has now militarised 16 islands in the Eastern Aegean.

READ MORE: Türkiye calls on Greece to stop militarisation of Aegean islands

Islands' sovereignty 

Türkiye has rejected the militarisation of the islands by Greece since the very beginning, protesting the Greek policy of violating the non-military status of the islands since 1960s.

Ankara has issued protests through diplomatic channels and requested the violations to stop. The issue came to the UN and NATO agenda in the 1970s.

The latest Turkish diplomatic move was to send a letter of complaint to the UN in July 2021, saying the militarization of the islands posed a serious threat to Türkiye's security.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the sovereignty over the islands would be questionable in the scenario that Athens has maintained its violations.

READ MORE: Erdogan warns Greece in Greek its actions will 'lead it to regret'