Turkey's Defense Ministry on Thursday sharply rejected statements by Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias, who over the weekend unveiled a plan to deploy missile batteries across hundreds of islands in the Aegean Sea and described Turkey as "the greatest threat". A ministry spokesperson in Ankara told reporters that "the Turkish military has the strength and determination to thwart any threat directed at our country".
Over the weekend, Dendias presented "Achilles Shield", a major shift in Greece's security doctrine that would place missile batteries on hundreds of Aegean islands. "We will seal the Aegean from the ground", he said in a Friday speech, again calling Turkey "the greatest threat" to Greece. "Greece is defending itself and Turkey is the one issuing threats", he declared. According to him, "the country that represents the most tangible threat to us is producing drones. Based on the information we have, it has more than a million drones ready at this moment".
A significant portion of the weapons systems for the Greek plan is expected to come from Israel, reflecting deepening defense ties between Israel, Greece and Cyprus, who share longstanding hostility toward Turkey. According to reports, Jerusalem and Athens are negotiating a deal worth roughly 3.5 billion dollars that would include air defense systems built by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries: Spyder, Barak MX and David's Sling.
At a weekly press briefing in Ankara, Defense Ministry spokesperson Rear Adm. Zeki Aktürk addressed Dendias's remarks. "All developments in our region, including the military activity of our neighbor Greece, are under close monitoring by us", he said. "Our country's basic priority is for our region, including the Aegean Sea, to be an area of peace and stability. Our expectation is that Greece also demonstrates a similarly constructive approach".
Aktürk described statements by Greek officials as "detached from reality, delusional and contrary to international agreements", and argued that they "damage the positive atmosphere created on the basis of understandings reached between the leaders of the two countries".
He added: "The Turkish armed forces do not pose a threat to anyone who does not threaten them, but they have the power and determination to thwart any threat directed at our country. Initiatives aimed against Turkey have failed in the past and will not succeed now or in the future".
The briefing also noted that Turkey has begun construction of a domestically produced submarine, the first of its kind in the country. Ankara has also signed an agreement to sell a corvette to Romania, marking Turkey's first sale of a naval vessel to a NATO ally. Last week, Turkey announced it had started building a TF-2000 class air-defense destroyer, which will be part of the multilayered "Steel Dome" system the government previously unveiled.
