Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned Greece to enter negotiations on disputed Eastern Mediterranean claims or face consequences.
“They will either understand the language of politics and diplomacy, or with painful painful experiences in the field,” he said at the hospital’s opening ceremony in Istanbul on Saturday.
In a tense stalemate in the eastern Mediterranean, both NATO allies have been closed for weeks, with Turkey claiming the potential for a coastline for energy storage in an area Greece claims as its own continent shelf.
Cyprus has also accused Turkey of violating its sovereignty by drilling into their waters. All parties have deployed naval and air forces to further their rival claims in the region.
“They understand that Turkey has the political, economic and military power to tear down unethical maps and imposed documents,” Erdogan added, referring to the areas marked by Greece and Cyprus as their economic maritime areas.
He said Turkey was “ready for every event and outcome”.
NATO said this week the leaders of Greece and Turkey have agreed to take part in technical talks to avoid accidents between their navies.
But Greece later said it did not agree to the talks, so there were allegations from Turkey that the EU country was avoiding dialogue.
Tanks at the border?
On Saturday, a Turkish news report said Ankara had deployed armed personnel carriers from the Syrian border from a location shared with Greece.
The Kamhuriet newspaper reported that 40 tanks were transported to Edirne from the Syrian border in northwestern Turkey and carried photographs of armed vehicles loaded into trucks.
Turkey deploys tanks on the Greek border from the Syrian border, Turkey’s private news agency – claims.
About 40 tanks. pic.twitter.com/nnDrEegXsj
– राग ı प सोयलु (ragipsoylu) September 5, 2020
The military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of government regulations, said the deployment was a regular movement of forces and was not linked to tensions with Greece.
Al Jazeera’s Stephanie Decker, reporting from Istanbul, said officials had only said, “This is part of a planned operation, the responsibility of another army [which is] Responsible for the territories of Syria, Iraq and Iran. “
If the convoy is actually heading to the Greek border, it is part of a “diplomatic military arm wrestling that has created tensions between the two countries,” Decker said.
“We have just heard from the President of Turkey that he will not hesitate to go into full-fledged military confrontation when it comes to defending what he says are his legitimate rights.”
Al Jazeera’s John Passaroplos, reporting from Athens, said he did not believe the Greeks were concerned about the border with Turkey, as they had 1,300 tanks in their arsenal, most of them “standing there in 130 kilometers – long stretch”.
“There is tremendous armor in front of the Turkish border and it is the only part of the Greek-Turkish theater that the Greeks feel confident about.”
“What they are less confident about is the vast swath of the Aegean Sea and now the eastern Mediterranean Sea.”
He added that after an eight-year recession and drastic measures imposed by its eurozone partners, Greece has cut its defense budget by almost half, which is now about one percent of its gross domestic product (GDP).
“The Greeks have traditionally spent a lot on defense. They are now unable to keep up with Turkey, which is almost three times Greece’s defense budget.”
Practice dogfights
Turkey on August 10 deployed an orc race research ship and escorting flotilla of warships in the waters between Cyprus and the Greek islands of Castellorizo and Crete. The ship’s investment in fighting waters has tripled.
With Greece conducting naval exercises with some EU allies and the United Arab Emirates, Turkey was not far from a small maneuver between Cyprus and Crete last week.
Ankara said it had every right to take advantage of the region’s potential and accused Athens of trying to seize an inadequate share of maritime resources.
Sigulated dog fights between Greek and Turkish fighter pilots have multiplied in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean.
A Turkish and Greek frigate collided last month, leaving the Turkish frigate slightly damaged but unharmed.
Erdogan said Turkey has repeatedly shown readiness to come to a justice agreement.
“Our word is sincere,” he said. “The problem is that we must first ignore our rights and try to give ourselves up.”
The crisis in relations between the two countries is the most serious in decades. Neighbors have been on the brink of war three times since the mid-1970s, including a one-time maritime resource in the Aegean.
Earlier, Ankara announced a joint military exercise with northern Cypriot forces from Sunday to September 10. Air, land and sea drills are conducted every year.
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