Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan returned to jingoist “mode” late this week, again combining invasion threats with a now very thinly veiled paranoia of US actions in the wider region.
Less than 24 hours after an informal but closely watched meeting between the Greek and Turkish defense ministers, on the sidelines of a NATO ministerial summit in Brussels, appeared to “break the ice” in frosty bilateral relations, the authoritarian Erdogan struck again:
“Everything is ready, we’ve donned our armor… we will come suddenly one night,” was the saber rattling heard by reporters accompanying the 68-year-old Turkish on a flight from Kazakhstan back to Turkey.
In airing a grievance that appears to particularly annoy the poll-trailing Erdogan administration, the Islamist Turkish leader expressed infuriation with a US military presence at the extreme northeast Greece port of Alexandropoulis.
The latter, located less than 40 kilometers west of the land border with Turkey in the Thrace province, is viewed as bypassing the Dardanelles and Bosporus straits connecting the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, and by extension decreasing Ankara’s geopolitical influence.
“Of course, we have warned them about this issue. America as well, our defense minister met with his counterpart, and they discussed this issue. There’s even a meeting of NATO defense ministers now. Our minister also had the opportunity to discuss these issues with his interlocutors … We will discuss the result with (Turkish Minister) Mr. Hulusi (Akar) when he returns, and we meet. Of course, we see what’s happening in Alexandroupolis or on various islands. Once we put on our armor and take our precautions, nothing scares us. We have taken measures, everything is ready. Therefore, we are taking our steps accordingly. Let them think about it,” Erdogan said.
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