Greek Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis is welcome to visit Türkiye as a tourist, Türkiye’s defense chief said Wednesday after Georgiadis threatened Athens might strike Ankara “one night.”
“Some 60 million tourists visit Türkiye every year. We’re expecting him for a touristic visit,” Defense Minister Yaşar Güler told reporters in Ankara ahead of the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) parliamentary meeting.
Georgiadis sparked outrage in Türkiye earlier on Sunday when he said Greece could go to Türkiye “one night” with F-35 fighter jets.
“One night, you will suddenly find them in Ankara. I am not saying we will actually do it, but Türkiye should know that they have nothing regarding aviation (capabilities of Greece),” he said.
Greek media also quoted him saying that Türkiye and Greece would either have a dialogue or “war.”
The “all of a sudden, one-night” remark was often repeated by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan until Türkiye and Greece agreed to revamp their relationship, establishing a road map to usher in a new era of closer ties last year.
He has employed the slogan in response to Greece’s repeated violations of Turkish territorial waters in the Aegean Sea and military show of force in the past. Erdoğan has toned down his rhetoric as he and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis began holding in-person talks, though he often underlines any provocative steps by Greece would be duly responded to.
Georgiadis’ remarks echo Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias’ who has repeatedly called Türkiye an “existential threat” to his country and an “invader” over its Cyprus Peace Operation that saved Turkish Cypriots from Greek Cypriot massacres.
"From time to time, we see some populist figures in Greece attempting to undermine relations between the two countries,” Erdoğan said later in response to Dendias’ comments. “We want to improve relations with Greece as good neighbors. But certainly, this does not mean that we should remain silent in the face of such nonsense.”
