After passing through Turkey on Monday, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna paid a visit to Greece on Tuesday, September 6. This diplomatic trip comes at a time when the relationship between the two neighboring countries is experiencing a new resurgence of tension, against the backdrop of border disputes. During a press conference with her Greek counterpart, the head of French diplomacy recalled the mutual assistance clause which unites Paris and Athens.
With our correspondent in Athens, Joel Bronner
Greek diplomacy is currently in the process of alerting the world to the bellicose Turkish remarks and the threatening tone used against it.
Relations between Turkey and Greece are historically tense and regularly marked by verbal passes of armswhich threaten to slide into real conflict if sparked.
It was this time at the end of August that the tone escalated, when Ankara accused a Greek S-300 anti-aircraft system of having aimed its missiles at Turkish F16 fighter jets, which Athens denies .
the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has since been particularly threatening towards the Greek islands that border Turkey, claiming that ” when the time comes we will do what is necessary […] we could suddenly come one night “. A threat of invasion therefore.
In Athens, Catherine Colonna, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, therefore recalled Paris’ support for the European neighbor: ” France has always been on the side of Greece – and Cyprus – when necessary and when attacks on sovereignty may be part of the temptations of neighboring countries. »
The minister also mentioned the strategic partnership between Paris and Athens, which contains a mutual assistance clause in the event of external aggression. This while recalling that the work of diplomacy is precisely to avoid reaching such extremes.