Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey would suspend talks with Greece, in part because of disagreements with the Greek prime minister and what Ankara calls airspace violations, marking the latest deterioration in tried-and-true relations. two neighboring states. 

"We will no longer hold bilateral meetings with them," the president said in a speech to his parliamentary group in Ankara. 

"We had an agreement of the high strategic council with Greece, but I informed the foreign minister yesterday that we no longer stand by this agreement," Erdogan added. 

Last year, after a five-year hiatus, the two NATO members resumed talks to address their differences in the Mediterranean and other bilateral issues. The talks have made little progress and the countries have often exchanged accusations against each other. 

Countries have long been at odds over a range of issues such as maritime borders, claims maritime borders, airspace, refugees and Cyprus. 

Tensions rose again last week when Erdogan said Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis "no longer exists" for him, accusing him of trying to block the sale of US F-16 fighter jets during a visit to the United States. 

Today, referring to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, but without mentioning his name, Erdogan said: "He goes to the US and makes comments against us in front of Congress. It ends here." 

On Tuesday, Mitsotakis told reporters after an EU summit that he had briefed his EU counterparts on Turkey's "aggression" and "provocations" that could not be tolerated by Greece or the European Union. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday that Greece is violating international agreements defining the demilitarized status of islands in the Aegean, warning that if Athens does not change course of action, Ankara will question the status of the islands. 

The Greek Foreign Ministry said Cavusoglu's comments indicated that Turkey was threatening Athens.