Press Releases

10 December 2007, Press Statement Regarding the incident that took place in the early hours of today, afecting the vehicles belonging to two staff members of the Turkish Embassy in Athens and the Turkish Consulate General in Athens-Piraeus. (Unofficial Translation)

Vehicles belonging to two staff members of the Turkish Embassy in Athens and the Turkish Consulate General in Athens-Piraeus were set to fire early this morning around 1:00 am, while they were parked near the houses of the said personnel. As a result the two vehicles have been completely destroyed.

We are saddened by these attacks. We deplore them.

In this regard, the necessary demarches are being made by our Embassy in Athens with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other relevant Greek authorities.

With the burning of these two cars, the number of vehicles belonging to staff members of our consular and diplomatic missions in Greece that were set to fire or damaged in the past one and a half years, has now reached 6.

In the light of the said events, we expect the Greek authorities to apprehend the attackers as soon as possible, to provide compensation for the vehicles and at the same time to ensure the security of the lives and property of all our personnel working in Greece.

According to the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the receiving state has the responsibility to provide security for the diplomatic representatives in its country.

On the other hand, the resolve of our country continues for the development of the process of cooperation and dialogue with Greece.

Republic of Turkey - Ministry of Foreign Affairs