Editorial To Vima: Message of deterrence to Turkey

Turkey’s political leadership – President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and top officials of his ruling party as well as the opposition – on a daily basis unleash rhetorical attacks against Greece, provoking our country and underestimating our people.

They speak of landing on and seizing Greek islands and maritime jurisdictions, organise provocations in the Evros Greek-Turkish border region by exploiting refugees and migrants as a tool against Greece, constantly violate Greek national airspace, continuously send fighter jets to fly over inhabited areas, and spy with impunity on various regions of our country.

Then, Ankara audaciously attempts to skew reality and complains that the Greek military, allegedly on the attack, locks on to Turkish war planes.

Turkey is dangerously escalating tensions, its aggressive rhetoric is spinning out of control, and it behaves as if it is preparing military operations against Greece.

An incident that occurred on 23 August is characteristic.

Eight Turkish fighter jets without permission violated the Athens FIR (Flight Information Region) and flew nearly 20 miles southeast of the island of Crete.

All eight were detected in a timely fashion without visual contact by the Hellenic Air Force and subsequently fled, knowing full well that in conditions of real war they would be in trouble.

This case, with a collective lock-on to Turkish fighter planes, demonstrated the true deterrent capability of the Hellenic Air Force.

The Turkish Armed Forces attempted to explain away the incident by falsely charging that the lock-on to their planes was carried out by Russian S-300 missile systems stationed in Crete.

In this manner, Ankara tried to depict Greece as the aggressor in order to reverse the negative climate against Turkey in Washington – due to its continuing procurement of Russian air defence systems.

The fact of the matter, however, is that on that day, the mobile air defence system remained in its shelter, as the state of alert at the time did not justify its activation.

Erdogan of late incessantly states that, ‘We shall come suddenly [to land on a Greek island] one evening, one night’”.

His opponents in Turkey urge him not to simply make declarations, but to hasten to take specific action.

Yet, the Turkish president now knows that any effort to violate Greek sovereignty will not be a cake walk, as some in Ankara may believe, but rather will have painful consequences.

The message has been sent loud and clear and definitely has been received.

Let Turkey not delude itself.

Any attempt to violate our national sovereignty will be met by a commensurate response.
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As Greece’s military leadership has made clear at various points, this will not be a simple reaction, but rather a protracted total war with painful consequences.

It will not be a military clash lasting for hours or days, but rather an escalating conflict of unforeseeable duration with great destruction.

The message to Ankara is clear and direct.

We maintain a defensive posture, but we are prepared for the worst-case scenario, and we are ready to enter the ring, knowing that we shall suffer serious harm but so will you.

That is the overarching doctrine of the Hellenic Armed Forces.

It is deterrent in nature and is designed to keep the peace rather than promote war.

By preparing and displaying our military capabilities, we are restraining the war scenarios.

The truth be told, a prospective Greek-Turkish war will push both countries 50 years back.

That is because, quite simply, Turkey is not Russia and Greece is in no way like an unprepared Ukraine.

Therefore, the many supercilious figures on the other side of the Aegean would do well to stop beating the war drums.

Mutual respect and cooperation, not war, will provide the solution.