In Turkey’s long-standing conflict with Greece over Cyprus, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has upped the ante by threatening Athens with potential missile strikes. During a speech in northern Turkey on December 11th, Erdoğan spoke about Turkey’s new Tayfun short-range missiles, which bring Greece’s capital firmly within range in case of an armed conflict. “When you say Tayfun,” Erdogan claimed, “the Greek gets scared and says, ‘It will hit Athens.’ Well, of course it will,” the Turkish president threatened.
“Now we have started to make our own missiles. Of course, this production scares the Greeks,” Erdogan told his audience. Turkey accuses Greece of having increased its military presence in the Greek Aegean islands, a move that raised eyebrows in Ankara.
“If you don’t stay calm, if you try to buy something [to arm yourself] from here and there, from America to the islands, a country like Turkey will not be a bystander. It has to do something,” the Turkish president explained his warning, adding that “we can come down suddenly one night when the time comes.”
Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu issued a warning to Greece to stop the military buildup on the Aegean islands, lest it risked Turkey taking “the necessary steps on the ground.”
The threats were condemned by Greek representatives. The day following Erdogan’s remarks, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias responded firmly: “It is unacceptable and universally condemnable for threats of a missile attack against Greece to be made by an allied country, a NATO member.” He added that “North Korean attitudes cannot and must not enter the North Atlantic Alliance.”
In September, we reported that Greece called upon NATO, the European Union, and the United Nations to rein in Turkey’s inflammatory rhetoric towards Athens. Back then, Dendias warned of a potential escalation of the conflict that could end up turning the lingering tensions into a Ukraine-like scenario.
