reece is not important in NATO, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Friday in response to Athens’ recent moves and negative statements against Ankara within the bloc.
“NATO is strong if Türkiye is present; NATO is not strong without Türkiye,” he told reporters after Friday prayers in Istanbul.
Greece’s negative statements to NATO about Türkiye cannot harm ties between Ankara and the alliance, Erdoğan underlined.
“Greece’s negative approach to NATO does not weaken Türkiye-NATO relations,” he added.
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 presence 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.
Erdoğan on Tuesday lashed out against Greece over the harassment of Turkish jets carrying out reconnaissance missions over the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, calling it a “hostile act.”
“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 the mission in international airspace, sources said on Wednesday.
Turkish jets engaged in missions over the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Seas were harassed by the Russian-made S-300 air defense system stationed on the island of Crete on Aug. 23.
However, Greek military officials deny the act, which is described as “hostile” in the NATO Rules of Engagement.
The Turkish Defense Ministry is preparing to send the radar records of the incident to the NATO Secretariat-General and the defense ministries of alliance members.
Türkiye, a NATO member for over 70 years, has complained of repeated provocative actions and rhetoric by Greece in the region in recent months, saying such moves frustrate its good faith efforts for peace.
Since the beginning of 2022, Greek warplanes have violated Turkish airspace 256 times and harassed Turkish jets 158 times. Greek coast guard boats also violated Turkish territorial waters 33 times.
Source: Daily Sabah
