In the midst of Turkey-Greece tensions, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Athens to look to history, saying, “If you go too far, the price will be heavy.”
“Look back in time, Greece; if you go too far, the price will be high. We have one message for Greece: Remember Izmir “Erdogan spoke at Teknofest, Turkey’s largest technology event, in the Black Sea province of Samsun.
Izmir is a province on Turkey’s western Aegean Sea coast that Ankara liberated from Greek occupation during the Turkish War of Independence in 1922.
Erdogan issued a warning to Greece, saying that Athens’ “occupation” of Aegean Sea islands is “not our concern.”
“When the time comes, we will do what needs to be done.” As we say, we can appear out of nowhere.”
Tensions between the two neighbouring countries rose after Greece complained to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg about the NATO Allied Land Command (LANDCOM) deleting a tweet commemorating Türkiye’s 100th Victory Day, which commemorates the resounding defeat of occupying Greek armies at the hands of Turks in the 1922 Battle of Dumlupinar.
LANDCOM commemorated the 100th Victory Day with a tweet on Tuesday. On Thursday, however, it tweeted a new post congratulating Ankara, saying, “We are thankful to have Türkiye as our host nation.”
NATO was chastised by Turkey for deleting the tweet, calling it “unacceptable” and claiming that the alliance “has greatly discredited its corporate identity and prestige” by deleting the tweet in response to Greece’s “baseless request.”