Greek government spokesman Gianni Oikonomou has dismissed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s references to the 1922 war with Greece and to “despicable Greeks” as evidence that the Turkish leaders had “chosen to distort history in order to serve his revisionist narrative.”
Mr Oikonomou was quoted by Kathimerini as saying: “Greece, on the contrary, in its long history has been writing history. Greece whenever necessary, knows perfectly well how to defend its rights, vigorously and effectively.”
He said the country could count on its traditional allies and the force of international law to deter Turkey’s growing provocations and that Greece had a defence capability that was strong enough to meet any threat if required.
“Our allies are on our side, justice is no our side; and we can effectively deter challenges to our rightful claims,” Mr Oikonomou said.
Mr Erdogan who spoke on the centenary of the Greek-Turkish war of 1922, celebrated the “great attack” of the Turks against the Greeks whom he said had been “pawns” to “treacherous” foreign powers.
Devlet Bahceli, who is the Turkish president’s nationalist ally and partner in government, referred on Monday to an incident that allegedly took place on Sunday in which Greek missile defence systems were said to have lock onto Turkish fighters over the Aegean – an incident that Greece denies ever took place.
