ATHENS, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Recent remarks by Turkish officials are "unacceptable", Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias said on Tuesday, according to Greek national news agency AMNA.
"On a daily basis, Turkish officials make outrageous statements against Greece... We respond that these remarks and attitudes of the Turkish side are unacceptable," Dendias said after talks with French Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna in Athens.
Dendias was referring to a warning by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over what Ankara calls "harassment" of Turkish fighter jets in the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean recently.
"We have only one sentence for Greece, don't forget Izmir," Erdogan said at an aerospace and technology festival in the Black Sea province of Samsun on Saturday.
He was referring to the withdrawal of the Greek army from Türkiye's western province of Izmir during the country's Independence War in 1922.
"Occupying the islands does not bind us. We will do what is necessary when the time comes. As we say, we can come suddenly one night," Erdogan added.
Türkiye has accused Greece of twice harassing Turkish jets carrying out NATO missions, on Aug. 22 and Aug. 24. However, Greece rejects the claims.
Relations between the two NATO allies have long been tense over a series of issues, including maritime and energy disputes in the Aegean and Mediterranean.
Colonna, who also held talks with her Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara on Monday, said that all parties should show restraint.
Dendias said that Greece is always in favor of fruitful dialogue on the basis of international law, and is confident regarding the stance of its allies and partners. ■