Greece will not allow Turkey to receive preferential loans for military purposes from the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) financial instrument unless Ankara stops threatening Athens with war if it exercises its right to expand territorial waters in the Aegean Sea from 6 to 12 nautical miles, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said.

The Greek PM noted that “30 years have passed since 1995, when the Turkish Grand National Assembly voted in favor of an unacceptable threat to Greece: a casus belli.”

“What is a casus belli? If you expand your territorial waters in the Aegean Sea, we are, in effect, threatening you with war. If we truly want a substantive normalization of Greek-Turkish relations and a deeper understanding of the nature of our fundamental differences, it is clear that Turkey must lift the casus belli,” Mitsotakis said. “As long as the casus belli continues, and as long as Turkey displays revisionism in other domains that harm Greece, Greece will block Turkey’s participation in the SAFE program, as it has such opportunity.”

“I will continue the dialogue with [Turkish President] Mr. [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan to ensure open lines of communication and to be frank with him on the issues that concern us,” the Greek premier added.