Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today added new statements to the long series of belligerent remarks he and his ministers have made against Greece, this time threatening to launch a missile strike on the country, and in particular on the capital Athens, “if you don’t keep calm”. writes BGNES.
“Greece is afraid of our missiles. They say the TYPHOON missile will hit Athens, it will hit it unless you stay calm,” Erdogan said on Sunday, according to journalist Ragip Soylu, Turkey bureau chief of the Middle East Eye news site.
The Typhoon is a short-range ballistic missile, or SRBM, developed by Turkey and test-fired on October 18 last year. Its range of about 560 km is more than twice that of the currently known missile in Turkey’s arsenal – Bora-1.
These kinds of threats are not new, although in this case they are more specific than usual. A few days ago, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu threatened Greece with an invasion if it did not demilitarize its islands in the Aegean Sea. Cavusoglu said Turkey would “suddenly arrive overnight,” a phrase Turkish officials often like to use.
Greek officials usually ignore these remarks in favor of domestic audiences. But with Erdogan facing a tough presidential election next year, they also fear he could stage an incident as an act of desperation.
Also, with Greece facing twin elections next year that are likely to have a caretaker government between the two elections, government officials fear that Erdogan may be timing the incident to coincide with this period of least stability in Greek society.
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