Turkey urges Greece to drop claims to Greece

‘It’s quite simple, Dimitris, if you stop claiming Greece is Greek, if you surrender the Aegean to us, then we won’t go to war with you and take your territory by force. Can’t you see this hang up you have with sovereignty is out of date and your interests are best served if you recognise the power and authority of Turkey? Resistance is futile. Please see reason. If you become subservient to us, then there will be no limits to the friendship we can build between Turkey and the Rum millet.’

This is essentially what Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said would prompt Turkey to remove Turkey's casus belli against Greece. Read this for confirmation.

And all this at the same time as the saccharine expressions of goodwill from Davutoglu and Greek foreign minister Dimitris Droutsas (see video above), made at the Greece v Turkey group game at the World Basketball Championships currently being held in Turkey, which, unfortunately, Greece lost 65-76, last Tuesday – it would be Tuesday. Typically, although the Turks played well, Greece has a better team and only went down because of mistakes and self-inflicted wounds.