Hulusi Akar

Ankara maintains an enormous landing force, with a strong amphibian component, the Aegean Army, on the entire coast of Anatolia, extremely close to Greek Aegean islands.

In a move apparently designed to exploit the enormous political divisions in Libya, the Speaker of Libya's House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, will be visiting Athens on December 12.

“Let them not test our power because there will be a heavy price to pay,” Akar declared today in Turkish-occupied Cyprus.

'We are monitoring the situation and are obliged to be in a constant state of readiness,' said Cypriot Defence Minister Savvas Angelidis.

Kammenos has been replaced as defence minister by Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis, until now Greece’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The war of words between the two countries began when outgoing foreign minister Nikos Kotzias announced that Greece will issue a presidential decree exercising its right under international law to extend its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles in the Ionian Sea.