A verbal "tit-for-tat" between Ankara and Athens continued on Thursday, with the Greek foreign ministry replying with a laconic statement to official Turkey's attack against the Greek president of the republic, who this week referred to a standing defense of the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos had made the statements during events on the island of Kalymnos to commemorate the annexation of the Dodecanese islands with WWII-victor Greece in 1947.
"Knowledge of international law means, above all, respecting it and not violating it (international law)," the Greek foreign ministry's response read.
Pavlopoulos, a former minister who holds the ceremonial head of state office in the country, emphasized that "Greece is determined, based on international law ... and primarily based on the Treaty of Lausanne, whose questioning is inconceivable, along with a basis on European law, to absolutely defend its borders, its territorial integrity and its sovereignty."
Ankara this week claimed that while Athens is accusing it (Ankara) of provocations in the region, Prokopoulos' "provocative statements" show that the EU and international community which side is increasing tension.
