Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias, who faces accusations of undermining reviving ties with Türkiye, says the country faces a “real war threat” from Türkiye as he defends almost doubling the defense expenditures of Greece.
At a time of flourishing relations, Greece appears to be wary of what its defense minister calls “a real, main threat” from neighboring Türkiye. Greek lawmakers on Sunday rallied behind defense spending that will be almost doubled. It's Parliament approved the state budget with a roll-cal vote with 159 out of a total of 299 votes cast.
Spending for the defense ministry will rise to 6.1 billion euros ($6.5 billion) from 3.6 billion euros, due to the increase in equipment deliveries in 2025. "Compared to 2019, by 2025, spending on health will have increased by 74% and spending on defense by 73%, underlining the government's priorities," Minister of Economy and Finance Kostis Hatzidakis had said late November on submitting the budget to Parliament. Major opposition parties, PASOK and SYRIZA as well as the Hellenic Solution party, had said before the vote that they would approve the increased defense spending.
Nikos Dendias, the defense minister, told Parliament Saturday that the spending is essential because of the challenges the country faces, especially from historic rival Türkiye.
"Is this spending too much? Whoever is positioning themselves on this needs to explain on what criteria they are considering. Is the country threatened? And where is the main threat to the country coming from?" he said, noting that Türkiye spends 26.8 billion euros on armaments.
In a social media post later, Dendias shared an excerpt from his interview with a newspaper where he said Greece had “every reason to be cautious against the existence of a threat of war from Türkiye.”
This is not the first time Dendias voiced concerns about the “existential threat” from Türkiye. He drew the ire of Ankara for similar remarks he made in September. He also called Türkiye a “lurking intruder” in another controversial statement in July.
Greece spends around 3% of its annual economic output on defense, higher than most EU states, mainly because of long-running tension with Türkiye.
Greek armed forces had a 20-billion-euro shortfall during the country's decadelong debt crisis, Dendias said in November, when he announced a shake-up of defense forces to sideline older weapons in favor of drones after lessons drawn from Ukraine's war with Russia.
Among the main changes in the radical overhaul is the creation of an anti-air and anti-drone defense dome covering the whole of Greece.
Greece is one of 21 countries participating in the European air defense system European Sky Shield, which was initiated by Germany, but the government in Athens thinks progress is too slow.
Türkiye too has unveiled its own “Steel Dome” system recently and already boasts a defense budget far higher than Greece, which is its NATO ally. Unlike Greece, though, Türkiye relies on its own locally-made arsenal in its “Dome” and other areas, particularly unmanned aerial combat vehicles. Greece, on the other hand, will spend the majority of its defense budget on payments for French-made Rafale fighter jets and Belharra frigates and the modernization of F-16 fighter jets.
"Greece today is charting its own roadmap in terms of stability and growth in an international environment of instability," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Sunday, hailing the backing of opposition groups. Mitsotakis drew a parallel with the difficulties the governments of "big countries" such as France and Germany in particular and also Italy were now facing in seeking majority support for their own budgets amid political or economic turmoil.
After a long period of tensions marked by disputes over irregular migration, the Cyprus dispute, energy exploration and territorial sovereignty in the Aegean, Türkiye and Greece have been taking confidence-building steps for a fragile normalization of their relations, which moved into a new chapter with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s landmark visit to Athens in December.
While officials on both sides have expressed commitment to maintaining the positive climate, the issues are longstanding and deep-rooted, and neither side expects the process to be without turbulence, particularly in the Aegean, where Turkish and Greek jets often scuffled until very recently.
Ankara has repeatedly warned its neighbor against entering an arms race with Türkiye, particularly on building a military presence on the disputed Aegean islands since the 1960s, in violation of postwar treaties.
Greece's purchase of F-35 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.
