Turkey Must Stop its Aggressiveness towards Greece, Says Burns

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has gone too far with his challenging of Greece's sovereignty and territorial waters, former US Ambassador to Greece Nicholas Burns told the online 31st annual Greek Economic Summit of the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday.

Burns, who is one of US President-elect Joe Biden's electoral campaign advisors,said that it is up to Turkey to step back, end these "very aggressive actions" against both Greece and Cyprus, and return to dialogue.

"Turkey has become a great headache for NATO and for European countries," he continued, citing Turkey's activities in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, its involvement in Syria, Libya and in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as its procurement of S-400 missile systems.

Burns also noted Turkey's authoritarian stance in domestic issues, saying it a problem for a democratic alliance like NATO, which needs to be addressed by both the US and the EU.