Greece warns Turkey: “If they make the slightest move, we will crush them”

Stern warnings from Greece to Turkey. Stern words in return, as well. Defence Minister Panos Kammenos warned that Ankara would pay for violating Greek airspace by Turkish jets over the Aegean.

The minister said whilst visiting a military outpost on the Aegean island of Leros, “If they make the slightest move, we will crush them,” adding that Athens wants peace and harmony but it won’t “concede a single centimetre” of its land.

His words seem aligned with Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis, chief of the Hellenic General Staff, who said:

“If the Turks land on a rocky islet, we will raze it to the ground. That is a red line that is espoused by the government,” suggesting a military confrontation with Turkey is a possibility, but adds “along with the US and the European Union, we want to ensure that the Turks do not reach that point.”

Turkey’s Gen. Hulusi Akar, chief of its General Staff fired back that they will not allow “any fait accompli in the Aegean and the Mediterranean”. Turkey will not back down “from the rights of our country and our people,” he added.

There have been clashes the past few years between the two NATO allies countries’ warships, as well as mid-air encounters of Turkish and Greek jets, with this current scuffle over a pair of Turkish F-16s making a fly over on Thursday of the island Kastelorizo in the eastern Aegean. Only minutes before a helicopter with Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos travelled the area on the way to Athens.

The dispute between Greece and Turkey continues over the Aegean as dozens of small islets in the sea make determination of the boundaries of the maritime border especially difficult. Despite efforts to come to agreement, the two countries have so far had no success.

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