Greece Slams Turkey Over President Erdogan's Remarks on the Country

The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Sunday morning in response to remarks made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before his attendance at the Conference on Libya hosted in Berlin.
“For Greece, it is not a matter of concern to make policy through nonsensical and provocative statements, but to implement the steps that ensure security and stability throughout the region,” the Foreign Ministry’s statement noted.
“As for the right footsteps, it is at least an oxymoron (for Greece) to take lessons in international law from the most prominent offender in our area,” the statement concluded.

#LIVE | Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses media before leaving for Berlin, where talks on Libya will take place https://t.co/fvJHVPv9f6

— ANADOLU AGENCY (ENG) (@anadoluagency) January 19, 2020

Earlier, President Erdogan had said that the Greek Premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis ”is playing the game wrongly,” referring to the recent visit of Libyan Commander Khalifa Haftar to Athens.
”He didn’t start well in this process, and he is not taking good steps in his relations with Turkey,” Erdogan said, referring to the Greek Prime Minister.
Vessel ”Yavuz” to Conduct New Drillings south of Cyprus
Meanwhile, the Turkish research vessel ”Yavuz” will soon conduct a new round of hydrocarbon research and drillings south of Cyprus.
Hami Aksoy, the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Turkey, announced on Sunday that the Turkish vessel arrived at the broader area south of Cyprus, where it will conduct its third attempt to drill to discover oil and gas deposits.
The Government of the Republic of Cyprus condemned Turkey’s newly-planned illegal drilling within the Exclusive Economic Zone and continental shelf of the country.
In a statement issued Sunday, the Presidency of the Republic pointed out that Turkey is provocatively ignoring the repeated calls by the international community and the European Union to terminate its illegal activities in Cyprus’ EEZ.
”It is now attempting to carry out new illegal drilling in the southern EEZ/continental shelf of Cyprus, inside exploration block 8, which was duly licensed to the European companies ENI and TOTAL; this new attempted drilling constitutes yet another flagrant violation of the sovereign rights and jurisdiction of the Republic of Cyprus under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,” the Cypriot Presidency noted.