Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias called Türkiye an “existential threat” to his country, while welcoming the current positive climate in bilateral ties, as he addressed the parliament on Wednesday.
“When there is a neighboring country that disputes a sovereign status – not just sovereign rights – and international treaties regarding minority designation, this is obviously an existential threat. The legal and geographical borders of our country are also threatened,” Dendias said.
The top Greek diplomat continued by saying that his country “welcomes in the most absolute way” a better atmosphere of relations with Türkiye but said Athens needs to reform its armed forces.
In January, Dendias rued how Türkiye took leaps in the defense industry while his country did not "produce a single thing."
Greece has the highest defense budget as a share of the gross domestic product (GDP) of all the NATO allies. It has placed multibillion-euro orders of U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets, French Rafale jets and Belharra frigates.
Türkiye and Greece have often locked horns over several issues, including competing claims to jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean, overlapping claims over their continental shelves, maritime boundaries, airspace, energy, the ethnically split island of Cyprus, the status of the islands in the Aegean Sea and migrants.
Tensions flared in 2020 over exploratory drilling rights in areas of the Mediterranean Sea – where Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration claim exclusive economic zones – leading to a naval standoff.
Despite saying that it has no intention of entering an arms race with Ankara, Athens has also been carrying out an ambitious rearmament program, building a military presence on the disputed Aegean islands since the 1960s in violation of postwar treaties, and also tightening its defense cooperation with the U.S.
The purchase of fighter jets from the U.S. and the upping of defense budgets are meant to counter the protection of Turkish interests in the Eastern Mediterranean. Greece says it needs to defend the islands against a potential attack from Türkiye, but Turkish officials said continued militarization of the islands could lead to Ankara questioning their ownership.
Türkiye has often warned against such moves and called instead for dialogue to resolve their disputes.
The sides have traded accusations over airspace violations, but there haven’t been any skirmishes in the past three years.
Pundits argue that despite the severity and longevity of their troubles, the lack of a hot conflict in the Aegean highlights the success of the neighbors in their mutual willingness to bury the hatchet.
