Türkiye only looks to advance and increase its friendships, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Wednesday amid an increasing yet turbulent rapprochement with historic rival Greece while warning the latter against inciting tensions.
Speaking at a parliamentary meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Erdoğan assured Ankara does not seek out tensions with its neighbors.
“We would never refuse a handshake,” he said.
Erdoğan’s remarks follow threats from Greek officials that overshadow efforts to revive historically strained ties between Ankara and Athens.
Greek Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis joined fellow Cabinet member Nikos Dendias on Sunday, boasting of Greece’s growing military capabilities that could be used against Türkiye.
“Whenever I hear ‘all of a sudden, one night,’ I laugh,” he said, about an oft-repeated remark by Erdoğan, long before Türkiye and Greece decided to put aside their past hostilities and started talking about improving ties over the past two years.
Erdoğan has employed this slogan in response to Greece’s repeated violations of Turkish territorial waters in the Aegean Sea and military show of force in the past. He toned down his rhetoric amid talks with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, though he often underlines any provocative step by Greece would be duly responded to.
“With F-35s, we can go to Türkiye one night. 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 when it comes to aviation (capabilities of Greece),” he said. Greek media also quoted him saying that Türkiye and Greece would either have a dialogue or “war.”
Dendias, who often accuses Türkiye of having “revisionist views,” has similarly branded Türkiye an “invader” on divided Cyprus ahead of the anniversary of a Turkish military operation that saved Turkish Cypriots from Greek Cypriot massacres.
Erdoğan, in response, had dismissed “populist” Dendias’ remarks as “attempts to undermine” bilateral relations and said: “I told (Mitsotakis) that there won't be remarks that will irk each side and he said he shared the same view.”
“Calling Turks 'invaders' is an immoral, tactless expression. Mr. Mitsotakis should put this minister of his in his place," Erdoğan said.
On Wednesday, the president reiterated Ankara’s commitment to protecting Turkish Cypriots and the Turkish minority in Greece’s Western Thrace region, which is home to around 150,000 Turks.
The community often complains of double standards and continuing inequalities in the country, namely socioeconomic discrimination, the closure of schools, the banning of Turkish-language education and refusing to legally allow the community to elect their religious leaders like muftis (Muslim clerics), which is a treaty right.
“Türkiye monitors all steps Greece is taking and intervenes in case of need,” Erdoğan said.
“The same goes for Turkish Cypriots who have been subjected to injustice and discrimination since the 1960s,” the president added, rejecting once again “any offers of solution based on federalism” in Cyprus.
After a long period of tensions marked by disputes over irregular migration, the Cyprus dispute, energy exploration and territorial sovereignty in the Aegean, Türkiye and Greece have been taking confidence-building steps toward a fragile normalization of their relations, which moved into a new chapter with Erdoğan’s landmark visit to Athens in December. Erdoğan later received Mitsotakis in Türkiye.
During the visit, the sides announced a friendship declaration, visa facilitation for Turkish citizens for 10 Greek islands in the northern Aegean for up to seven days and the decreased flow of irregular migrants to Greece.
While officials on both sides have expressed commitment to maintaining the positive climate, the issues are longstanding and deep-rooted, and neither side expects the process to be without turbulence, particularly in the Aegean, where Turkish and Greek jets often scuffled until very recently.
Earlier in January, both Ankara and Athens reached respective deals with Washington for fighter jets, raising concerns of fresh skirmishes in the region.
Ankara has repeatedly warned its neighbor against entering an arms race with Türkiye, particularly on building a military presence on the disputed Aegean islands since the 1960s, in violation of postwar treaties.
Greece's purchase of F-35 fighter jets from the U.S. and the upping of defense budgets are meant to counter the protection of Turkish interests in the Eastern Mediterranean. Greece says it needs to defend the islands against a potential attack from Türkiye, but Turkish officials said continued militarization of the islands could lead to Ankara questioning their ownership.
After his meeting with Mitsotakis in Ankara last May, Erdoğan stated that there were no “unsolvable” problems between the two countries, and the two leaders hailed the state of relations while pledging to further enhance bilateral ties. "We had a constructive and positive meeting and discussed problems in Türkiye-Greece relations. We will solve problems through dialogue.”
