Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has continued with his administration’s belligerent posturing towards Greece; threatening the capital of Athens with a missile strike.
He is quoted as saying last Sunday by journalist Ragip Soylu, Turkish Bureau chief of the publication Middle East Eye:
“Greece is afraid of our missiles. They say that the TAYFUN missile will hit Athens, it will, unless you stay calm.”
The Tayfun (Turkish for “typhoon”) is a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM), developed domestically by defence contractor and manufacturer Roketsan. It’s initial test-firing took place on 18 October this year over the Black Sea.
It has a range of around 560 kilometres, more than double that of their last generation SRBM, the Bora-1 (Storm-1) which was adopted in 2017.
On Tuesday 6 December Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu threatened Greece with invasion if it does not demilitarise its Aegean islands, at a joint press conference with his Romanian counterpart Bogdan Aurescu.
He echoed Erdogan’s oft repeated phrase “we can come overnight all of a sudden” reiterating the administration’s bellicose narrative.
Despite stressing that Turkey will continue to seek diplomatic solutions to the situation in the Aegean, Cavusoglu warned:
“Greece must remember the following: He who sows the wind, reaps the whirlwind. If you do not want peace, we will do what is necessary. Suddenly one night,” according to Kathimerini.
Erdogan faces a difficult re-election next year, with public sentiment in the country steadily drifting away from the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP); there is concern among Greek officials that the increasingly desperate leader may orchestrate an incident to ensure his continued rule.
Adding to concerns is the fact that next year Greece will have its own double election, with a caretaker government likely to preside in the period between the two. Officials are wary that Erdogan could time the incident to coincide with this period of least stability in Greek politics.