Greece's FM responds to Erdoğan's 'missile' remarks

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Greece's Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias responded to President Erdoğan's statements that Türkiye's newly developed Tayfun missiles can hit Greece.

In recent years, state-owned weapons manufacturer Roketsan covertly built a new missile system. The new system was accidentally leaked on October 18 and showed the capacity to hit targets from a distance of approximately 560km. Türkiye's other rocket systems, the Yildirim and Bora, have a 150km and 280km range.

"Of course, this production scares the Greeks. When you say 'Tayfun,' the Greek gets scared and says, 'It will hit Athens.' President Erdoğan exclaimed during a speech at a youth meeting at the Black Coast City of Samsun on December 11. President Erdoğan's remarks and threats of a strike on Athens were widely shared in the Greek press.

Greek foreign minister Nikos Dendias responded on December 12, while attending a European Union foreign minister meeting in Brussels, "Missile threats to Greece by allied NATO nations are unacceptable and should be universally condemned. There is and should be no place for North Korean attitudes in NATO."

Deteriorating Türkiye–Greece relations

The rocket threats fit a pattern of rapidly deteriorating Türkiye–Greece relations. In recent months, Ankara accused Athens of arming demilitarized islands in the Aegean Sea. Türkiye's intelligence spotted US-made armored vehicles on the islands of Lesbos and Samos. This would violate the 1923 treaty of Lausanne and the Paris Peace Treaty of 1947, which ensures the demilitarized status of the islands.

"Your occupation of the islands does not bind us. When the time comes, we will do what is necessary. As we said, we can suddenly come down on you one night." President Erdoğan warned Greece in early September.

CLICK - Türkiye–Greece tensions: A quick overview

Athens rejected the accusations, and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on November 3, pointed out that Türkiye's increasingly aggressive attitude is a way of deflecting its negative economic spiral.

"If we had 85 percent inflation, I'd be trying to change the subject too ... If I responded to the statements of Turkish officials every time they provoked Greece, I don't think I'd be doing anything else." (SD/WM/VK)