Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today added new statements to the long string of belligerent remarks he and his ministers have made against Greece, this time threatening to launch a missile attack on the country, and particularly on the capital Athens, “if not 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 keep calm,” Erdogan said on Sunday, according to reporter Ragip Soylu, head of the Turkish bureau of news site Middle East Eye.
The Typhoon is a short-range ballistic missile, or SRBM, developed by Turkey and tested on October 18 last year. Its range of about 560 km is more than double that of the currently known missile in the Turkish arsenal – the Bora-1.
These types 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 “come suddenly overnight,” a phrase Turkish officials often like to use.
Greek officials usually ignore these remarks in favor of the national public. But with Erdogan facing a tough presidential election next year, they also fear he may stage an accident as an act of desperation.
Furthermore, with Greece facing twin elections next year that are likely to have a caretaker government between the two elections, government officials fear Erdogan could coincide the incident with this period of less stability in Greek society.
