Highly provocative statements were made by the former Minister of Defense of Turkey and president of the National Defense Committee of the Turkish parliament as a member of Erdogan’s ruling AKP party, Hulusi Akar. He spoke about Kastellorizo, “where Turkish military personnel can swim,” about Cyprus, and about operations in Syria, such as the maritime zone agreement.

Akar said: “We have exercised and continue to exercise all our sovereign rights in our seas and airspace. No one can prevent this. Turkey has a 12,000-kilometer coastline. We are a maritime nation. We are determined and committed to exercising our rights in our seas. We have every strength for this. Cyprus is our national issue. We have not backed down and will not back down. No one should doubt this. Kastellorizo is right across from us. In some way, it was historically bypassed and ended up belonging to the Greeks. The distance of Kastellorizo from Turkey is 1,950 meters. Our cadets in military schools can swim 2 kilometers. Therefore, the island is within swimming distance. Our Greek friends said, ‘Then swim.’ We said, ‘God willing, the day will come when we will do it,'” he stated.

“They want 40,000 square kilometers of maritime jurisdiction for this island. When we say ‘no’ to this, they call us uncompromising. Yes, we are uncompromising… We will not accept this.”

“We cannot obtain weapons even though we paid for them. They did not give them to us… Now we are manufacturing them. We sell to friendly and allied countries,” added the former minister, making pointed remarks against the U.S. regarding the F-35 fighter jet program, from which Turkey was excluded due to its purchase of Russian S-400 anti-aircraft systems.

“There is a lot of work we can do with Syria”

“If Syria achieves peace and stability, naturally, there is a lot of work we can do as two neighboring countries, two friends, two sister countries. One of these is, of course, maritime jurisdictions. (…) We can do this very easily with a stable Syria that will be our friend and sister. Not only this, but we can also develop and increase our cooperation in communication and transportation. It would benefit the activities of both countries,” added Akar.

“Cyprus is our national issue”

Declaring that Cyprus is Turkey’s national issue, Akar said: “Our purpose there will never end. We have rights and laws there within the framework of our guarantee and alliance agreements. Whatever other countries do, the United Kingdom and Greece, we are guarantors there according to the agreements. Therefore, we have fulfilled the duties and responsibilities of the guarantor so far. We will continue to do so. The most important issue in Cyprus is that the south sees the north as a refugee zone, as a second-class (area). We say, ‘no, they are equal.’ But ultimately, we say that negotiations have not reached a conclusion for 50 years, 60 years. Now it is over. There is no ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’; there is a ‘Turkish Republic of Cyprus.’ Understand it or not. Therefore, we support our Cypriot brothers and sisters on this matter.”

“Being Turkish is difficult because you have to fight with the whole world,” he also asserted. “There are serious risks and threats around Turkey geographically, which we must take seriously. These things are not a joke.”