Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoganhas threatened Greece this Saturday with “sudden” navy motion if it persists in what it considers to be a confrontational perspective with Turkey within the Aegean.
“Greece, take a look at historical past. So long as you go a lot additional, the worth you’ll pay can be excessive, very excessive,” Erdogan proclaimed throughout a speech at a know-how truthful within the metropolis of Samsun, during which Turkish-made armed drones have been exhibited.
“When the day and time comes, we are going to do no matter it takes. We are able to arrive one evening immediately, ”stated Erdogan, utilizing the method that he has been repeating for months when speaking a few potential navy operation in Syria.
Ankara has spent months accusing Athens of “militarizing” the Aegean islands, shifting troops and artillery in actions that, in its opinion, violate the Lausanne treaties of 1923 and Paris of 1947.
Final June, the Turkish authorities even threatened to “query Greek sovereignty” over the islands, whereas Greece argues that it has the proper to guard itself from Turkey’s “expansionist” perspective.
“For Greece we solely have one sentence: Remember Izmir,” Erdogan has stated, referring to when in 1923 Turkey expelled Greek troops from that Aegean metropolis, ending the Turkish conflict of independence.
Final week, commemorating the decisive battle, Erdogan harassed that Turkey “threw the infidels into the ocean in Izmir.”
Though Ankara and Athens haven’t any territorial claims within the Aegean, aside from a number of uninhabited islets, Greek and Turkish fighters recurrently problem one another, in a dispute over the bounds of the airspace comparable to territorial waters.
The newest episode of stress came about final Sunday, when, in accordance with Ankara, the Greek Military focused two of its fighter jets with anti-aircraft missiles, which have been flying between the Greek islands of Crete and Rhodes.
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