Turkey's lies about the islands: What the Greek Foreign Ministry says about demilitarization

The extent of Turkish lies regarding the status of the eastern Aegean islands and Ankara's revisionism in general are highlighted by the official positions of the Foreign Ministry on the issue, which are listed on the Foreign Ministry's website.

As underlined in the post, Turkey is the only country that invokes and demands the demilitarization of the «East Aegean islands», and as far as militarization is concerned, the status of the Greek islands of the An. In the case of the question of the status of the Greek Aegean islands, the status of the Greek Aegean islands is governed by international treaties.

Specifically:

- the status of the islands of Lemnos and Samothrace is governed by the 1923 Lausanne Convention on the Straits, which was replaced by the 1936 Montreux Convention,

- the status of the islands of Mytilene, Chios, Samos and Ikaria is governed by the Lausanne Peace Treaty of 1923; and

- the status of the Dodecanese is governed by the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty.

What applies to Lemnos and Samothrace

The demilitarisation of Lemnos and Samothrace together with the demilitarisation of the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara and Bosporus, as well as the islands of Imbros (Gokceada), Tenedos (Bozcaada) and Lagos (Tavcan), originally provided for in the 1923 Lausanne Convention on the Straits, but repealed by the 1936 Montreux Convention; which, as expressly mentioned in its preamble, replaced the aforementioned Lausanne Convention in its entirety.

As underlined on the Foreign Ministry's website, Greece's right to arm Lemnos and Samothrace was recognised by Turkey, in accordance with the letter addressed to the Greek Prime Minister on 6 May 1936 by the then Turkish Ambassador in Athens, Roussen Esref, on the instructions of his government.

The Turkish government reiterated this position when the then Foreign Minister of Turkey, Rustu Aras, addressing the Turkish National Assembly on the occasion of the ratification of the Montreux Convention, unconditionally recognized the legal right of Greece to establish troops in Lemnos and Samothrace, with the following statements: «The provisions relating to the islands of Lemnos and Samothrace, which belong to our neighbouring and friendly country Greece and which had been demilitarized in application of the Lausanne Convention of 1923, have also been abolished by the new Montreux Convention, and this is a matter of great satisfaction to us» (Journal of the Proceedings of the Turkish National Assembly, Vol. 12, July 31/1936, p. Similar assurances were given in this regard, during the same period, on behalf of Turkey to the governments of third countries concerned.

What applies to Mytilene, Chios, Samos and Ikaria

As far as the above-mentioned islands are concerned, nowhere in the Lausanne Peace Treaty is it stipulated that they will be demilitarized.

The Greek government undertook only the obligation, in accordance with Article 13 of the Lausanne Peace Treaty, not to establish naval bases or fortifications there. In particular, the above article provides as follows:

«In order to ensure peace, the Greek Government is obliged to observe the following measures in the islands of Mytilene, Chios, Samos and Ikaria:

- The said islands shall not be used for the establishment of a naval base or for the construction of fortifications.

- The Greek military aircraft will be forbidden to fly over the territory of the Anatolian coast. Similarly, the Ottoman Government will prohibit its military aircraft from flying over the islands.

- The Greek military forces in the pacified islands will be limited to the usual number of those called up for military service, who can be trained on the spot, as well as to a gendarmerie and police force commensurate with that existing throughout the Greek territory.».

Greece, as the Foreign Ministry stresses, has so far consistently applied the above provisions, but Turkey, despite the fact that it is obliged under the same article not to allow its military aircraft to fly over the airspace of the Greek islands in question, has repeatedly violated and continues to violate its relevant legal obligations.

On the other hand, the same article allows Greece to maintain a regular number of soldiers called up for military service, who can be trained on the spot, as well as gendarmerie and police forces.

The status of the South East Islands. Aegean Sea (Dodecanese)

The Dodecanese were ceded to Greece «under full sovereignty» by the Paris Peace Convention between Italy and the Allies in April 1947.

Furthermore, the provisions of that Treaty provide for the demilitarisation of those islands: «The above-mentioned islands shall be and remain demilitarized». In the Dodecanese there are a number of national guard forces, which have been declared in accordance with the provisions of the CFE Agreement.

Regarding Turkish claims about the demilitarization of the Dodecanese, the Foreign Ministry stresses that:

- Turkey is not a party to this 1947 treaty, which is therefore a «res inter alios acta» for Turkey, i.e. a matter that concerns other states. According to Article 34 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, «a treaty does not create obligations or rights for third countries» other than the contracting parties.

- The provision for the demilitarisation of the Dodecanese was made after decisive intervention by the Soviet Union and reflects Moscow's political expediency at the time. It should be noted, however, that demilitarisation regimes lost their raison d'être with the creation of the NATO and Warsaw Pact coalitions, as incompatible with the participation of countries in military coalitions.

In this context, the demilitarisation regime ceased to apply to the Italian islands of Panteleria, Lampedusa, Lampione and Linosa, as well as to West Germany on the one hand, and Bulgaria, Romania, East Germany on the other. Germany, Hungary and Finland on the other side.

«In addition to the above, Greece, like every other sovereign state in the world, cannot waive its natural and legal right of defence in the event of a threat directed against its islands or any other part of its territory. All the more so when Turkey, in flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter, threatens it with war should it exercise a legal and sovereign right granted to it under international law,» the Foreign Ministry's website stresses.

It is also recalled that in addition to the threat of war, Turkey:

- It invaded Cyprus in 1974, in violation of the provisions of the Treaty of Guarantee for Cyprus, to which Greece is a party, and, despite numerous UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions to the contrary, continues to maintain a significant military force in the occupied territories.

- It systematically violates the Greek national airspace and flies over Greek islands in the Aegean Sea with military aircraft, often armed, and even inhabited ones, which is of particular importance in terms of security issues.

- Over the past decades, it has maintained significant military units with air assets and landing craft in areas of the coast of Asia Minor, which are opposite the Greek islands, which constitutes a serious threat to Greece.

«The aforementioned state of affairs, combined with the threat of war (casus belli) and Turkey's general revisionist tendency regarding the territorial and legal status of the Greek islands as defined by international treaties and international law in general, obliges and legitimises Greece to make the necessary defensive preparations to enable it to exercise, if necessary, the right of legitimate defence provided for in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter and to protect the Greek islands», the website underlines.

Treaties of Lausanne and Montreux

Further details of what is provided for by the treaties can be found on the website of the General Staff of the Army.

More specifically, in the Treaty of Lausanne (24 July 1923, Parties: England, France, Yugoslavia, Greece, Italy, Italy, Japan, Romania, Turkey) states, inter alia, that «the decision taken on 13-2-1914 at the London Conference, following Article 5 of the Treaty of London of 17-30 May 1913, and Article 15 of the Treaty of Athens of 1-14 November 1913, and which decision was communicated to the Greek Government on 13 February 1914 concerning the sovereignty of Greece over the islands of the Eastern Mediterranean other than Imbros, Tenedos and Lagos (Mavries Island) and in particular the islands of Lemnos, Samothrace, Mytilene, Chios, Samos and Ikaria, is reaffirmed, unless a contrary provision is included in the present Treaty, the islands lying less than three miles from the coast shall remain under Turkish sovereignty» (Article 12). Some restrictions are also placed on the fortification and size of military forces on the Greek islands of Mytilene, Chios, Samos and Ikaria. (Article 13), while Turkey renounces, in favour of Italy, all her rights and titles over the Dodecanese (Article 15).

The Agreement on the Status of the Straits (Lausanne) provided that it «demilitarizes the Straits zone, as well as the islands of Samothrace, Lemnos, Imbros and Tenedos» (Article 4-9). As for the Treaty on the Status of the Straits (Montreux), signed on 20 July 1936 (Contracting Parties: Black Sea States : Bulgaria, Romania, Romania, Soviet Union, Turkey, other States : Australia, France, Greece, Italy, France, Italy, England, Yugoslavia), with the aim of returning to Turkey the management of the Straits and arranging the passage of ships through the Straits (Dardanelles, Marmara Sea and Bosphorus), in the preamble it is stated that «desirous of regulating the passage and navigation in the Straits in such a way as to ensure it without disregarding the safety of Turkey and the other Black Sea States, we have decided to replace by the present Treaty the Treaty signed at Lausanne on 24 July 1923».