Turkey warns Greece over joint military drill with Egypt

Turkey has warned Greece for allegedly conducting an illegal joint-military exercise with Egypt at the Greek island of Rhodes.

Rhodes is located in the southeastern part of the Aegean Sea and is visible from the Turkish coast. The island has been a site of tension as of late after a Greek coast guard ship opened fire on a Turkish vessel in international waters off the coast of Rhodes in July.

The commercial ship, riddled with bullet holes, later docked at Marmaris port in southwestern Turkey after it was escorted by three Turkish coast-guard vessels and an assault craft.

Greece and Egypt began a five-day a joint amphibious attack exercise on Rhodes on October 30, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said in a written statement issued on Thursday.

The statement said the 1947 Treaty of Paris prohibits any kind of military education activities on Rhodes, which was transferred to Greece from Italy after World War II on the condition of being disarmed.

"Therefore, this military exercise conducted on Rhodes is an open breach of international law," the statement stressed.

The statement said they have conveyed warnings to the Greek embassy in Ankara and reminded them of the importance of avoiding one-sided acts that will increase tensions in the Aegean Sea.

"In this framework, we stress our expectation from Greece to avoid hostile acts and acts against international law, and we invite third parties not to be partners to these kinds of violations of Greece," the statement added.

Friction between NATO allies Greece and Turkey is not uncommon, given territorial disputes and Ankara’s anger with Athens for failing to hand over Turkish soldiers who fled after an abortive coup last year.

Turkey and Greece came to the brink of war in 1996 over the ownership of uninhabited islets known as Imia in Greek and Kardak in Turkish.