Defense ministers of Greece, Cyprus and Egypt condemn Turkish aggression

The national defence ministers of Greece, Cyprus and Egypt condemned Turkey's illegal actions in the East Mediterranean and Syria, expressed support for a political resolution of issues in Libya and committed to working towards peace and stability in the region, during a meeting held in Athens on Thursday.

Greece's Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, Mohamed Ahmed Zaki and Savvas Angelides reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen and expand their collaboration, and set the next meeting in 2020 on Cyprus.

Reviewing the contents of a joint press release, Panagiotopoulos said "we condemned Turkey's illegal actions in Cyprus' maritime zones that comprise a blatant violation of international law and the Law of the Sea Convention, as well as Turkey's aggressive stance, with violations of the Greek air space and Greece's territorial waters, which contravenes international law and the principles of good neighborhood."

The three ministers agreed that the Turkish invasion of Syria "will lead to a new humanitarian crisis and increase even more migration flows from Turkey to Greece, as well as affect negatively our efforts to fight terrorism," the Greek defense minister said.

On Wednesday, the three ministers will head to Crete, where they will observe the last phase of the multinational inter-branch exercise "Medusa".