Turkey slams ‘fake news’ about attack on Greek navy

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has described as “fake news” an article published by the German newspaper Die Welt which claimed that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had ordered the Turkish Navy to attack and sink a Greek warship. Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy called it a “product of the imagination.”

Aksoy condemned the paper’s allegations yesterday, as well as the Greek government’s outrage at the reports. He also addressed Greece’s recent actions in the eastern Mediterranean – including the provocative maritime deal with Egypt – stressing that they are against international law and are disconnected from reality.

That deal, signed between Greece and Egypt last month and ratified last week, attempts to limit Turkey’s territorial waters by pushing them back towards the coast while simultaneously expanding Greece’s. It has been declared “null and void” by Turkey, and Aksoy urged the Greek government to end its escalation policies in the region which hinder potential negotiations between the two countries.

The possibility of negotiations was also marred by America’s partial lifting of the decades-long arms embargo on Greece-backed Republic of Cyprus earlier this week. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ironically called for the calming of tensions between Turkey and Greece.

Such tension has risen because of Greece’s responses to Turkey’s gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean over the past year. The government in Ankara has constantly called for talks and a settlement to the dispute, and even temporarily halted its drilling operations while doing so. Greece, along with allies such as France, did not agree and sabotaged the offer through its deal with Egypt and attempts to curb Turkey’s maritime rights.

Defence chief: Turkey chases its rights, not tension in Eastern Mediterranean