QA-40, 23 May 2020, Statement of the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Hami Aksoy, in Response to a Question Regarding the Greek Allegations Pertaining to Turkey-Greece Border
On April 15 2020, Greece notified our Ministry of the construction of a fence in the “Feres sector” of Turkey-Greece land border.
Upon coordination with the relevant Turkish authorities, the Ministry conveyed a Note on 11 May 2020 requesting Greece to share the exact coordinates of the construction area and proposing to convene the joint border commission in order to ensure that the land border is not violated.
It was also communicated to the Greek side that the construction of the fence should not be commenced without technical coordination between the two countries as the riverbed of the Meriç/Evros river which delineates the Turkish-Greek land border in 1926 has changed significantly because of natural and artificial factors and thus, there exists no mutually-agreed geographical coordinates of this particular section of the border compatible to 1926 agreement.
In spite of our warnings and proposals of cooperation, Greece initiated land-levelling activities on 13 May 2020 and violated our contractual land border. This violation was immediately intercepted by our relevant authorities through the necessary measures.
The issue can be resolved, if the meetings we have proposed between technical delegations of both countries take place.
A fait-accompli at our borders will under no circumstances be tolerated.