"Look at the history. If you go too far, it will cost you dearly. We have one sentence for Greece: Do not forget Izmir. We do not care that you invaded the islands or elsewhere. When the time comes, we will do what is necessary. One night we can suddenly come." These words by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan caused a stir in Greece.
The Greek minister of foreign affairs made the following statement in response:
"In this extremely critical period, we will inform our allies and partners about the content of the provocative statements of the Turkish authorities in the recent days, in order to make it clear who is sabotaging the unity of the alliance. Greece will not follow Türkiye in this crazy statement and threat that crosses over the line.”
What the Mitsotakis administration is demonstrating here is called "self-righteousness." Because it ignores that the current government's systematic opposition to Türkiye is what lead Erdoğan to make this statement.
After the tension over areas of sovereignty in the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkish-Greek relations began to soften as of the beginning of 2021 as a result of the initiatives of Germany and NATO. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis even went to Istanbul in March 2022 to meet with Erdoğan.
However, Mitsotakis ended the easing process that was expected to continue with his visit to the U.S. in May. He gave a passionate speech in the U.S. Congress about how the 40 F-16 fighter jets that Türkiye wants to buy should not be sold to the country.
Mitsotakis' attempt to prevent Türkiye, a NATO member and EU candidate, from exercising its most natural right, was against both the law and diplomatic practices. Lobbying for an embargo on its neighbor, after indicating that it was open to dialogue, is pure hypocrisy.
Erdoğan saying that Mitsotakis "no longer exists" for him was not an exaggerated reaction.
Then, everything went downhill...
Greece continued to arm the islands, which should have been disarmed under the treaties of Lausanne and Paris. S-300 air missile systems of Russian origin, which Greece deployed to the island of Crete in the past days, locked their radars on Turkish warplanes. Turkish warplanes, which support American warplanes and other NATO aircraft with escort flights in international airspace in the Aegean, were also harassed twice by the Greek air force through radar locking. Locking radar on an aircraft is clearly defined as hostile behavior.
What do you call it when a NATO member harasses another NATO member's F16s carrying out NATO missions using Russian S-300s and then files a complaint to NATO?
It would not be an exaggeration to call Mitsotakis self-righteous, right?
Yes, tensions surrounding the Mitsotakis incident are escalating populism to strengthen the hand of the nationalist public and media before the upcoming elections. He is provoking Ankara on purpose by dropping soldiers on islands inhabited by goats and drawing giant flags. He wants Ankara to make a mistake. He aims to draw the attention of the international community to the region by portraying Türkiye as "aggressive" since it does not have the capacity to fight against Türkiye alone. He is trying to manipulate the U.S. Congress not to sell 40 new F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye.
All the while, he is planning to seize air superiority in the Aegean against Türkiye, which was removed from the F-35 program thanks to the Rafale he bought from France and the F-35 warplanes he wanted to buy from the U.S.
However, the West, from which Mitsotakis sought help, is now suffering from gas shortages, "General winter." The U.S., which turned out to be a paper tiger in Ukraine and is involved in deep state conspiracies, will not open a front in the Aegean against NATO member Türkiye, which has the second largest army.
At a time when the world is on the verge of a difficult period, may Allah help the fraternal Greek people who are stuck with a prime minister trying to become Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
