President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday warned Greece it would pay a "heavy price" if it kept on harassing Turkish fighter jets over the Aegean amid renewed tensions between the two neighbors.
"Greece, take a look at history. If you go too far, the price will be heavy," Erdoğan told a defense systems exhibition in the Black Sea province of Samsun.
Erdoğan was referring to incidents in which Greece recently targeted Turkish jets with its Russian-made S-300 air defense system.
It was reported last week that Turkish jets on a reconnaissance mission, flying in international airspace, had been harassed by the Greek defense system stationed on Crete. Athens rejects the claims.
"Greece has challenged NATO and its allies by increasing its hostile attitude, which started with harassing our airspace and aircraft and escalated to the level of S-300 radar lockdown," Erdoğan said.
Türkiye is planning to submit to NATO and its allies the radar logs showing how a Greek S-300 air defense system harassed Turkish F-16 jets during a mission in international airspace, sources said last week.
The two uneasy NATO neighbors have long-standing sea and air boundary disputes which lead to near-daily air force patrols and interception missions mostly around Greek islands near Türkiye’s coastline.
Türkiye has in recent months complained of the provocative actions by Athens, saying such moves undermine peace efforts.
Tensions also rose when Greece recently forced NATO to remove a message congratulating Türkiye's Victory Day on Aug. 30.
The holiday commemorates the decisive victory in the Battle of Dumlupınar, the last battle in the Turkish War of Independence, on Aug. 30, 1922. Following the battle, the Greek occupation after World War I in Anatolia ended. Victory Day has been celebrated as an official holiday since 1926 and was first celebrated on Aug. 30, 1923.
Türkiye, a NATO member, has often criticized the military alliance, including the United States, for not supporting it enough on its territorial dispute with Greece on islands in the Aegean and the issue of exploration of hydrocarbons in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Since the beginning of 2022, Greek warplanes have violated Turkish airspace 256 times and harassed Turkish jets on 158 occasions. Greek coast guard boats also violated Turkish territorial waters 33 times.
Moreover, Ankara says Athens is stationing troops on islands in the Aegean Sea in violation of peace treaties signed after World Wars I and II. But, Athens says it needs to defend the islands – many of which lie close to Türkiye's coast.
“We have one thing to say to Greece: Remember Izmir," Erdoğan said.
Izmir is a province on Türkiye's western Aegean Sea coast that Ankara liberated from Greek occupation in 1922 as part of the War of Independence.
Erdoğan accused Greece on Saturday of occupying islands in the Aegean Sea that have a demilitarized status, and said Türkiye was prepared to "do what is necessary" when the time comes.
Türkiye in recent months has stepped up criticism of Greece stationing troops on islands in the eastern Aegean, near the Turkish coast and in many cases visible from shore. These islands were required to be demilitarized under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and the 1947 Treaty of Paris, so any troops or weapons on the islands are strictly forbidden.
It was not long before Greece answered the statements of the president.
The Greek foreign ministry on the same day released a statement saying: “We will immediately inform our allies and partners regarding the content of the provocative statements of the last few days.”
Türkiye and Greece are at odds over a number of issues, including competing claims over jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean, overlapping claims over their continental shelves, maritime boundaries, air space, energy, the ethnically split island of Cyprus, the status of the islands in the Aegean Sea and migrants.
Tensions flared when Erdoğan recently said Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis "no longer exists" for him, after the Greek premier lobbied to block sales of F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye during a visit to the United States, despite previously agreeing with Erdoğan "to not include third countries in our dispute."
