4 yıl önce

Turkey: Greece should stop fueling tension in East Med

At a joint military drill with Azerbaijani troops, Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said Turkey is also ready to help boost the Iraqi military's effectiveness through sharing its knowledge and experience as a NATO member.

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Turkish Minister of Defence Hulusi Akar speaks at the Winter 2021 Exercise organised by the 14th Mechanized Infantry Brigade Command in Kars, Turkey on February 11, 2021.

Turkey’s defence minister has said Greece needs to refrain from exacerbating tensions and stop using threatening language, adding such moves will get them nowhere.

Hulusi Akar said on Thursday Turkey expects third parties to evaluate problems using reason, logic, and common sense, including on issues of Cyprus, the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean.

The minister was speaking at the joint Turkish-Azerbaijani military exercises taking place in northeastern Kars.

Akar said border operations since 2016 destroyed the corridor that terrorist groups attempted to form in northern Syria.

Europe should consider the refugee influx that would have resulted had Turkey not acted along its borders, the minister said.

Akar added Turkey is ready to help boost the Iraqi military's effectiveness through sharing its knowledge and experience as a member of NATO.

Anti-terror operations

Since 2016, Turkey launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations in northern Syria, across its border, to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and to enable the peaceful settlement of residents there: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).

Turkish officials say without their forces protecting locals from the YPG, the Syrian branch of PKK terror group that has taken some 40,000 lives, there would be more refugees seeking passage to Europe.

Turkey's role in Libya

Akar also highlighted the importance of the role Turkish Armed Forces played in Libya.

Libya has been torn by civil war since the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Based in the capital Tripoli, the Government of National Accord was founded in 2015 under a UN-led agreement. But efforts for a long-term political settlement have failed due to a military offensive by militias loyal to warlord Khalifa Haftar.

Under a November 2019 cooperation agreement, Turkey has provided support to Libya’s government in repelling Haftar’s militias.

On February 5, Libya elected its interim president and prime minister to govern the country until elections this December.

SOURCE: AA