Turkey accuses Greece, Cyprus, France UAE and Egypt of forming ‘alliance of evil’

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy accused five countries, Greece, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and France, of creating “regional chaos” in the eastern Mediterranean, while trying to form the “alliance of evil”, after the foreign ministers of these states jointly slammed Turkey’s activities in the region, Associated Press reported.

“We call on these countries to act in line with common sense, international laws and practices”, the spokesman said on Tuesday, as quoted by AP. “Peace and stability in the region can be established with sincere and genuine dialogue, not through alliances of evil”.

Aksoy also accused France of “patronising” the purported alliance, while slamming the UAE for “hostility” against Turkey and insisting that both Greece and Cyprus were undermining Ankara’s attempts to have a constructive dialogue.

The spokesman’s comments came following the teleconference between the foreign ministers of five states on Monday, during which they discussed Turkey’s drilling activities in the disputed offshore area near Cyprus, as well as its military activities in Libya.

Ankara does not recognise the government of the Republic of Cyprus and is the only state in the world to recognise the existence of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, following the island’s split in 1974.

Last year, it signed a deal on maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean Sea and agreement on military cooperation with the internationally-recognised and UN-backed Libyan government.

The border delineation agreement was deemed “illegal” by some nations, including Egypt, as Turkey moved forward with gas drilling activities in the disputed zone of eastern Mediterranean, something which is strongly objected to by Greece and Cyprus, as the latter argues that it has exclusive economic rights in the area.