Turkey has no problem with Athens as long as Greece does not take on Ankara in the Aegean Sea, according to a statement today by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to the Turkish Anatolia news agency.
“We're firing Typhoon. What is the range of Typhoon? 561 kilometers. What are the Greeks doing? They're upset. The newspapers are making headlines immediately: “They're going to hit Athens.” We don't have that problem as long as you don't mess with us in the Aegean.
“As long as you don't mess with us in the Aegean, we won't mess with you,” Erdogan said at a ceremony held in a suburb south of Ankara.
Turkey test-fired its Taifun short-range ballistic missile in October. According to the same state news agency, the missile can hit a target at a distance of 561 kilometres in 456 seconds.
Erdogan hailed Turkey's developing defence industry, saying that every country “envies” Turkey for the Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial combat vehicle and the Kizilelma unmanned jet fighter.
Turkey has been a member of NATO for more than 70 years, and has complained of repeated provocative actions and similar rhetoric from Greece in the region in recent months, including the defensive arming of islands off the Turkish coast, which according to Anatoli, are demilitarized under the treaty.
Turkey argues that such moves disrupt good faith efforts.
