After the statement of Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis on Zourafa, the Turks are furious and a complicated plan seems to have been set in motion, certainly not for good, and certainly with the aim of the Mitsotakis-Erdoğan meeting in Athens in a few days.
"Our sovereignty over Zurafa cannot be questioned, even if justifiably so. The issue of Zourafa is a sovereignty issue, since the islet is under Greek sovereignty and is Greek territory," Gerapetritis said.
The well-known Admiral Cihat Yachi, Erdogan's mouthpiece and advisor, came almost immediately, not for the first time, but now his intervention has the smell of an Imia scene.
Yachi said: 'Enough is enough! I strongly condemn those who cannot say that the land of the homeland is ours and those who sit at the table saying 'a positive agenda has emerged between us'! What does the Turkish Foreign Ministry expect for the name of Allah?
Why is he shy? I have been calling for days for the Turkish Foreign Ministry to make an announcement that "the island of Zurafa belongs to Turkey", but they don't. Look what happened now! The Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said without hesitation that this little island belongs to Greece". We await the response of our Foreign Minister in front of the national and international audience! This situation cannot be dismissed with words, and we have to "answer in secret".
Reciprocity requires a response in kind. It is obligatory to give an answer that is befitting the honour of the State of the Republic of Turkey and the Turkish Nation.
Similarly, the Greeks cannot come before the international public opinion and say 'The island of Zurafa belongs to Turkey', they will forever bear the curse and responsibility of the Turkish nation," the Turkish admiral said, using the well-known Turkish theatrics reminiscent of actors in a soap opera.
We recall that in February 2022, the "TV" Turkish fisherman Ilker Ozdemir, who is a "hero" on all Turkish social networks, with his own channel on You Tube, was the protagonist of a staged episode through which Ankara is trying to raise the issue of the Zourafa islet, because that is what it is about and nothing else.
This is not the first time that the advisor, expert, has raised issues of national importance through the Turkish press, ostensibly asking for the reaction of the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
This is how the Imia scene began, with the familiar outcome.
Here we probably have a double targeting of the Turks, first to blackmail Athens before the meeting on December 7, ( to succeed where they failed everywhere, Gaza, US, F-16), and second, because they are indeed targeting Zourafa to claim a large part of the Aegean.
What Turkey seeks from Greece with the terms of understanding
The Turks want to put 152 islands, islets and reefs within the scope of the EGAYDAAK project on the agenda with Greece.
They are even shouting in the media that "the Republic of Turkey has de facto legal sovereignty over these islets, islets and rocky islets".
Surely we want legitimacy and security around our islands, especially in this turbulent and dangerous period, and that is what the Greek authorities must do.
The Turkish MoD is methodically recording every Greek military event in the Aegean and the islands, with the ultimate aim of putting them on the table to push for the 'imaginary' plan of demilitarization of our islands.
Turkey seeks, and this is the most dangerous thing, to place the issue of the demilitarization of the Greek islands and islets on the agenda of Greek-Turkish issues.
Ankara is constantly showing its conquering intentions for our islands in the Aegean, since it is contesting our sovereignty over them with various unsubstantiated theories, such as those of 'grey zones' and 'the blue homeland'. Recently, all high-ranking Turkish officials have launched a "campaign" aimed at demilitarizing our islands.
This type of reaction by Ankara has been taking place systematically for a long time, focusing on many of our islands.