It is an undisguised threat.
Greece will pay a "high price" if it continues to violate Turkish airspace and "harass" Turkish planes in the Aegean Sea, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Saturday.
Last Sunday, Ankara claimed that Turkish planes on a mission in this area had been targeted by Greece's S-300 air defense system, and denounced a "hostile action".
“Hey, Greece, look at history.
If you continue, you will pay a high price”, declared the Turkish president during a rally in the Black Sea region.
“We have a word for Greece:
don't forget Izmir
,” referring to the Aegean city that Greeks call Smyrna.
The occupation of Smyrna by Greece, to which it was awarded by a late World War I treaty that Turkey never recognized, had ended when the Turks retook it in 1922.
"We can arrive suddenly at night"
“Your occupation of the islands
(in the Aegean Sea near Turkey)
does not bind us in any way.
When the time comes, we will do what is necessary.
We can arrive suddenly at night,” he said, using a formula often used when he spoke of launching an operation in Syria.
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Athens accuses Turkish planes of flying over Greek islands close to the Turkish border, and the dispute between the two enemy neighbors results in frequent patrols.
Ankara for its part denounces a presence of troops on these islands contrary, according to Turkey, to the peace treaties signed after the First and Second World Wars.
In June, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu said that if Athens continued to send troops to the islands, Ankara would challenge Greek sovereignty.
In the summer of 2020, significant tensions had erupted between the two countries.