President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stated that Turkey will not sit idly by if Greece continues to arm the Aegean islands, and that Turkey’s ballistic missile test scares Athens.
“We have begun building our missiles now. Obviously, the Greeks are scared by this production. Greeks are afraid when you say “Tayfun,” which means a typhoon. Greece claims that it will strike Athens. It will, of course, strike.
“A country like Turkey won’t stand by if you try to buy something (to arm) from anywhere, from America to the islands. It must act,” Erdogan stated on Saturday at an event in Samsun province’s northern region.
Turkey conducted a test firing of its Tayfun (Typhoon) short-range ballistic missile over the Black Sea in October. In 456 seconds, the missile can reach a target 561 kilometers away.
Turkey, a NATO member for over 70 years, has complained about Greece’s provocative behavior and rhetoric in the region in recent months, including arming demilitarized islands near Turkish shores.
It claims that such actions impede its genuine efforts to reach peace.
Terror groups in northern Syria
Erdogan criticized the US for supporting and arming terrorist groups in northern Syria and referred to another NATO ally.
“Arms and ammunition are being delivered to northern Syria by 4,000 to 5,000 trucks from the United States.” They don’t care that I’ve repeatedly told them this.
“In NATO, we are with you. “We will pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, even though we are together, you are doing wrong to us and you are on the side of the terrorist organization,” Erdogan stated.
Operation Claw-Sword, Turkey’s cross-border aerial campaign against the PKK, which has hideouts across Iraqi and Syrian borders from which they plan and sometimes carry out attacks on Turkish soil, was launched last month in the northern regions of Iraq and Syria.
Erdogan also signaled a ground operation into northern Syria and Iraq to eliminate the terror threat after the air operation was launched.
More than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants, have been killed by the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union, and the United States. The terrorist group PKK has a Syrian arm called the YPG.
