Subject: Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-03-09 From: "HR-Net News Distribution Manager" CONTENTS [01] Mitsotakis briefs EPP counterparts, EU and NATO about Turkey's provocations --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [01] Mitsotakis briefs EPP counterparts, EU and NATO about Turkey's provocations New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday he informed his counterparts at the European People's Party (EPP) summit in Brussels as well as top EU and NATO officials about the recent spike in airspace violations in the Aegean by Turkey. Mitsotakis met with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, the President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani, the President of the EU's Military Committee (EUMC) General Mikhail Kostarakos and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. "I expressed to everyone my intense concern for the escalation of the provocations in the Aegean from Ankara and of course I informed them about Greece's standard positions [on the issue]," he said, noting that for the first time Greece witnessed a military exercise of the Turkish Navy with real fire inside Greek waters. "Greece does not intend to be dragged into an escalation which, as it seems, the Turkish side wants. But it will not allow any provocation to go unanswered," he said and added Greece wants good neighborly relations with Turkey based on international law and treaties.