Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas clarified, however, that the Turkish government has not officially briefed Athens over the matter. In stressing Athens' standing position over the demilitarization claim, the spokesman reiterated that the Greek government accepts no interventions affecting the country's sovereignty. Georgios Theodoroulakis to the Turkish naval base of Axaz. Theodoroulakis was originally scheduled to attend a command transfer ceremony at the base. Countries participating in the force on a permanent basis are Germany, Greece, Italy, Turkey and Spain.
Periodical participants are Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United States.
Athens has for decades patiently pointed to International Law, maritime and shipping pacts, as well as a handful of internationally recognized treaties as negating all of Ankara's claims. The only outstanding issue recognized by Athens is that of the Aegean's continental shelf, which it maintains should be referred to the International Court of Justice at The Hague, something Turkey has steadfastly refused to accept. A Greek military aircraft has on a previous occasion taken off from Rhodes, the largest island in the Dodecannese chain in the southeastern Aegean, to land on Turkish soil. Mustafa Yildirim, had been plucked out of the Aegean by a Greek search and rescue helicopter before being briefly hospitalized and flown from Rhodes to Turkey the same day.