There are special days that make every state a state and unite every nation. Foreign countries also publish congratulations messages on such special occasions to show that they stand by their allies. It's customary in diplomacy.
Aug. 30 Victory Day was such a day for us. While many magnificent celebrations were held and congratulations messages were sent from all around the world, NATO, of which Türkiye is a member state, also tweeted English and Turkish posts from their official account to celebrate Victory Day.
The official Twitter account of the Ministry of National Defense was also tagged with the message "Happy Victory Day." In the continuation of the English post, it is written, "Today is the 100th anniversary of Turkish independence. We join our Turkish allies across NATO & beyond in celebration of their Victory and Turkish Armed Forces Day." A photo of Turkish soldiers and a waving Turkish flag was attached to the post. At that point, everything had proceeded on its normal course.
However, Greece got angry as soon as they saw the post. After all, in Dumlupınar, on Aug. 30, 1922, their ancestors were defeated by the Turkish army. A century has passed but obviously, the envy is still there. For this very reason, they cannot even tolerate a diplomatic celebration.
First, the Greek press stepped in. Ta Nea newspaper published news with the title "NATO bomb: NATO congratulated Türkiye on its victory over Greece in 1922 and fanned the flames." And it used the following expressions: “Actually, today (30 August) is when the Turkish authorities, led by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, chose to launch a fierce attack with threats against Greece."
After a while, the U.S.-based CNN's Greece service also shared news titled "NATO congratulated Türkiye on its victory over Greece." The news report also said, "In fact, NATO congratulates Türkiye on its victory over Greece, another member of the NATO family." Following the Greek news, Athens took action. The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that its permanent representative to NATO had filed a complaint condemning the post.
And what do you think happened? Just hours after this statement, NATO's tweet was deleted. This mentality, which cannot even tolerate the celebration of the victory day of a state, actually proves very well which side has escalated the tension on both sides of the Aegean.
It is necessary to evaluate Greece's harassment of Turkish F-16s with the Russian-made S-300 air defense systems, which recently locked their radar on Turkish planes. Yes, you read it right. When Türkiye bought it, the U.S. caused a stir and threatened sanctions. Here are the S-300s, a sub-model of those S-400s. This air defense system has existed in Greece for years and has not faced any threat of sanctions. Moreover, it is using this system to harass a country that is a NATO ally, Türkiye.
Erdoğan made it clear what this reckless attitude of Greece means to NATO: "It is a hostile behavior to lock their radar on a country's aircraft. Especially, if this aircraft is performing a NATO duty. It means that this hostility is directed against NATO with all its members. By increasing its hostile attitude, which started with violating our airspace and harassing our aircraft, to the level of S-300 radar locking, Greece actually challenged NATO and the allies, not us – as if it has the ability or power."
Türkiye announced that it would transfer the radar recordings of the Greek harassment to NATO. We will see what decision NATO will take regarding this series of abuses after it reviews the evidence. However, Greece's incidents are not limited to this. Athens constantly complains about Türkiye, both in Western capitals and NATO, like a spoiled little child who hides behind his older brothers whenever he gets into trouble. But really, this latest tweet deletion shows that Greece's childish attitude has pushed NATO to surrender to Athens' delusions.
The alliance is a serious business. It should not be crushed by challenges or delusions. It is incomprehensible that one of the 30 member states would turn a blind eye to the alliance's second-largest army being challenged.
