Turkey should send aircraft-carrier warship near Crete Island to deter Gr

Ankara: Turkey, restless by Greece’s movements in its maritime territory, in the Crete islands, has started threatening Greece. A few hours ago, Turkey’s Defence Minister had warned that Greece should remember history before making any move on the Crete islands and not invite new crises. Besides, a former Turkish military officer called upon the Erdogan government to show military aggression against Greece. Turkey should send its amphibious aircraft carrier near the island of Crete if it wants to deter Greece, a former Turkish military official has said.

Tensions between Turkey and Greece over rights to islands and oil fields in the Aegean Sea have been fostered considerably for the past few years. Turkey has sent vessels to research and excavate oil fields within Greek territory in the Aegean Sea. The Turkish regime had aggressively demanded that Greece withdraw its army from the Greek islands close to Turkey and relinquish its rights to them. In response to Turkey’s aggression, Greece had also proposed extending the Crete islands’ boundary to 12 nautical miles.

The island of Crete is within the territory of Greece, and according to international maritime rules, Greece has the right to extend this limit up to 12 nautical miles. Moreover, the President of Turkey had warned that if Greece took such action, the missiles of enraged Turkey could hit Athens, the capital of Greece. Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has shown that his country will not value international rules by saying that it will not tolerate any movement beyond taking the border to six nautical miles from the island of Crete. At the same time, Akar threatened Greece by saying that Greece should remember its history.

Greece went to war against Turkey in 1919-22 after World War I. In the struggle that erupted for Anatolia province, Turkey gained control of Greek territory. Greece had to bear heavy casualties in this. Besides, Turkey’s Defense Minister reminded Greece of the war. Eray Güçlüer, a retired officer of the Turkish military and an analyst of a local study group, directly provoked the deployment of the amphibious aircraft carrier TCG Anadolu against Greece.

Moreover, the warship could not stop the Greek navy in the Aegean Sea. Instead, Turkey should deploy the warships in Crete and Rhode Islands to catch Greece in a dilemma, Güçlüer has suggested while talking to a local news channel. Despite such warnings and threats, it will not be easy for Turkey to take such action against Greece. This is because, in this dispute between Greece and Turkey, European countries seem to be standing on Greece’s side now.

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