'Don't forget Izmir': Turkish president's firm warning to Greece

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during the Turkish Armed Forces Day, for the 100th anniversary of the victory against the Greek army in the Battle of Dumlupinar, in 1922, in Anitkabir, at the Mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal in Ankara, August 30 2022. AFP - ADEM ALTAN

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

Greece will pay a “high price” if it continues to violate Turkish airspace and “harass” Turkish planes in the Aegean Sea.

These were the very harsh words uttered this Saturday by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

For several days, Ankara has accused its neighbor of having used its S-300 air defense system to target Turkish planes on a mission in this area.

These threats come in a particularly tense context in recent months between Ankara and Athens.

Advertising

Read more

With our correspondent in Istanbul,

Words and historical references are not chosen at random.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan knows perfectly well how his words will be interpreted in Athens and among the Greek population.

On the stage of an aerospace and technology festival, where Turkey notably exhibits its famous combat drones, the Turkish president issued clear warnings to Greece.

If you go further, you will pay a high, very high price!

Your occupation of the islands (of the Aegean Sea, editor's note) does not bind us in any way.

When the time comes, we will do what is necessary.

We can arrive one night without warning.

We only have one word for Greece: don't forget Izmir!

This last sentence refers to a decisive episode in the Turkish War of Independence, when, in 1922, the forces of Mustafa Kemal, the future Atatürk, expelled Greek soldiers from the Aegean city of Izmir, which they had occupied since dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire.

A “war of liberation” launched three years earlier from Samsun, the city on the shores of the Black Sea where Tayyip Erdoğan gave his speech.

In Turkey, these threats are presented as a response to Greece, accused of having pointed air defense missiles at Turkish F-16 fighters three times in recent weeks during reconnaissance missions over the Aegean.

Ankara and Athens oppose in particular on the layout of their maritime and air borders in this zone.

►Grand Reportage: Greece-Turkey: tensions at sea, concern on land (2020)

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_EN

• Turkey

• Recep Tayyip Erdogan

• Greece

• Defense

• Diplomacy