ATHENS – The issue of fishing rights “is not just an issue between countries, it is primarily a European issue and I considered that we have an obligation to inform the EU of a practice… which violates the European acquis,” Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said in a statement on Thursday regarding his letter to the high representative of EU, Josep Borrell, on the illegal activity of Turkish fishing vessels.

“Firstly, I described in the letter to Josep Borell a real situation,” Dendias said, noting that this was not just a issue affecting Greece and Turkey alone but “a practice, which creates problems in Greece, but hurts the European environment as a whole and violates the European acquis.”

Also, stressing the importance of the letter, he said that it can work as a signal that tolerance of certain things is coming to an end.