Greece is wasting its people's money on second-hand weapons to use against Türkiye, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Friday.
Speaking to Turkish broadcaster A Haber in an exclusive interview, Akar underlined that Greece has launched a futile armament campaign.
"Greek people's money is wasted on weapons and equipment that have completed their economic life. Used planes, used tanks, used cannons, whatever they have, France sells them to Greece and makes money. You won't get anywhere with that though. If you are trying to defend Greece with your work, this is too much for defense. You don't need that many weapons to defend. But if this is against Türkiye, this is not enough."
Greece does not have the tolerance to discuss sharing resources in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, Akar said, accusing Athens and Paris of forming alternative alliances within NATO.
"We say that you have 3,000 islands, yet you are right under our noses. You want 40 square kilometers of maritime jurisdiction for the 10 square kilometer island of Meis, you arm the islands, you claim 10 miles of airspace. You're right under our noses and you call us expansionists. We do not avoid any meeting, we do not avoid meeting with anyone. Because we are right, we are strong. We have arguments. The Greeks have no arguments."
He also touched upon two recent Greek attempts to harass Turkish warplanes carrying out NATO missions over the Aegean Sea.
"We do not harass anyone, but we do not leave any harassment unanswered. We said this in NATO, we say it everywhere," he said, describing Greece's recent harassment as deliberate.
Neighbors and NATO allies 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.
In recent months Türkiye has stepped up criticism of Greece stationing troops on islands in the Eastern Aegean, near the Turkish coast and, in many cases, visible from the 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. Also, Türkiye and Greece have traded accusations of airspace violations in recent months.
Despite saying that it has no intention of entering into an arms race with its neighbor and NATO ally Türkiye, Greece also continues to carry out an ambitious rearmament program for its armed forces. Greece's burgeoning arms program is designed to counter the protection of Turkish interests in the Eastern Mediterranean. Türkiye has often warned Greece against indulging in an arms race, offering to resolve all outstanding issues, including in the Aegean, the Eastern Mediterranean and the island of Cyprus, through dialogue.