Greek FM Charges Turkey with "Subverting Stability in the Region"

After a meeting with the EU Foreign Affairs Council, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias charged that Turkey is “subverting peace and stability in the region” by way of its most recent provocations.
After speaking with European Council minister in Luxembourg, the Greek Foreign Minister noted “Today I had the opportunity to inform my colleagues in the Council about the new illegal activities of Turkey within the Greek continental shelf, south of Kastelorizo.”
In his remarks, he stressed that Turkey “is the common denominator in all the problematic situations in the area: Nagorno-Karabakh, Syria, Iraq, Cyprus and the southeastern Mediterranean,” and is a country acting “against international law, against the conclusions of the European Council.”
Additionally, the Greek Foreign Ministry made the following statement in response to Turkey’s new, illegal Navtex:
“Major escalation”
“Turkey’s new illegal Navtex for illegal surveys south of Kastelorizo on Greece’s continental shelf, just 6.5 nautical miles from Greek shores, constitutes a major escalation and direct threat to peace and security in the region.
“Turkey systematically ignores International Law, the International Law of the Sea and the rules of good neighbourly relations. It undermines every effort towards dialogue, defying the calls of the International Community. It is provocatively indifferent to the urgings of the European Union for compliance with international legality, as a self-evident condition for any step of progress in EU-Turkey relations.
“We call on Turkey to immediately reverse its decision. To immediately cease its illegal actions, through which it is systematically undermining peace and security in the region.
“Greece will not be blackmailed”
“As a modern European state, Greece will not be blackmailed. It will continue to defend its sovereignty and its sovereign rights, while at the same time contributing to the consolidation of regional security and stability.”
Also on Monday, the Navy Hydrographic Service (HNHS), based in Herakleion, Crete, issued a counter-NAVTEX, in response to Antalya’s illegal NAVTEX for its own oil and gas exploration activities atop the Greek continental self.
Greece’s counter-NAVTEX underscores that the Turkish activity is unauthorized and illegal, in an area that overlaps the Greek continental shelf.
It also said that the Herakleion Navtex station has the authority to broadcast Navtex messages in the area.
Earlier, the Antalya station had issued a NAVTEX with number FA06 -1262/20 concerning the sea area 6.5 nautical miles south of Kastellorizo and 22 nautical miles southeast of Rhodes.