Because of Its Prominent Rise, the West Punishes Turkiye by Moving the Greece Pawn in the Aegean Sea

A few months ago, signs of war simmered under the waters of the Aegean Sea separating Turkiye and Greece due to several files, the most important of which is Athens arming its islands there with lethal weapons and missiles, in violation of international agreements concluded with Ankara.

Observers believe that one of the most important motives for Greece's insistence on raising the current tension is the emergence of Turkiye's positive image in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, especially at the diplomatic and economic levels. This is the opposite of what Athens hopes for, as it seeks to show Ankara as a dangerous aggressor force.

 

Greek Harassment

In the latest form of this tension, the Turkish Ministry of Defense revealed, on August 28, 2022, that its fighters were harassed by the S-300 air defense system of Greece while carrying out missions in the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkiye's response was not limited to condemnation, but Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, on September 2, 2022, flew a warplane himself and headed towards the Aegean Sea, defying radars and the Greek defense system.

While Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a speech on September 3, 2022, threatened Greece with defeat, as what happened during the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922).

Erdogan warned Greece that it would pay a "heavy price" if it persisted further and continued to violate Turkish airspace and "harass" Turkish aircraft over the Aegean Sea.

He said to Greece: "When the moment comes, we will do what is necessary…We may come by surprise."

Before this latest tension, when Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited Ankara in mid-March 2022 to meet the Turkish president, it seemed that the two countries were on a new, calmer path called dialogue, coordination, and cooperation.

However, Mitsotakis soon backed away from this path in his speech to the US Congress in May 2022, inciting against Ankara, especially with regard to arms sales, as he demanded that they not sell F-16 planes to Turkiye.

Erdogan responded with severe criticism, describing his speech in Congress as a "diplomatic betrayal," and confirmed that he would not participate in future dialogue with him after he reneged on the agreement concluded by the two countries, saying: "A person named Mitsotakis no longer exists for me."

 

Escalation Secret

Observers believe that the Greek escalation is deliberate for reasons that go beyond the role of Greece and fall into the category of Western parties seeking to weaken Turkiye and distract it from its rapid rise in technological and military fields and its gradual transformation into a superpower in the region.

Others believe that the escalation is related to the complex historical and religious relations between the two countries and Athens' efforts to exploit the increasing Western pressure on Turkiye in several files in the recent period.

He referred to the first reason, the Turkish president, in a press statement on August 31, 2022, saying that his country knows that the troublemakers (Greece) in the Aegean, through their harassment, are nothing but pawns, referring to the West's use of Greece against Turkiye.

He stressed that Turkiye is also aware of the reason for the European Union's abstention from its annexation nearly 60 years ago, despite granting membership to countries that cannot be compared with Turkiye, whether in terms of democratic or economic standards, in reference to the fact that it is a Muslim country, and the union is "Christian."

On August 25, 2022, the TRT Haber quoted Bilgehan Ozturk, a researcher at the SETA research institute, confirming that the Greek harassment against Turkiye had two goals.

The first: "Mobilizing public opinion and drawing the attention of the international media against Turkiye and increasing its problems with the West, especially since there is a trend trying to classify Turkiye as a troubled ally of NATO."

The second: "Distorting the balance policy pursued by Turkiye between Russia and Ukraine and its great role as a mediator and its efforts to stop the effects of the war from spreading to the rest of the world, which Greece does not like, which wants to present Turkiye to the West as a pro-Moscow."

"Greece's goal is to influence the West in order to make Greece look like a victim like Ukraine and Turkiye like Russia (the aggressor)," the Turkish researcher explained.

 

Western Duality

Turkiye complains of American and Western bias towards Greece. While they turn a blind eye to Greece's possession and activation of the Russian S-300 system against a NATO ally, they are imposing sanctions on Turkiye for its purchase of the S-400 system.

Among the features of this discriminatory policy, on June 23, 2022, The Hill newspaper, close to the White House, launched an attack on Turkiye and considered its actions a deviation that constitutes an increasing threat to NATO.

The newspaper called on America to take several measures against Turkiye, including increasing its naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean and deploying an aircraft carrier "to deter the Turkish escalation and put more pressure on the Erdogan regime."

On September 2, 2022, the Turkish Ministry of Defense said that NATO's behavior by deleting a tweet congratulating Turkiye on the centenary of Victory Day, following a Greek objection, had caused significant damage to the Alliance's institutional identity and standing.

After the Turkish reprimand to the Alliance, NATO re-published a "modified" congratulations to Turkiye, in which it said, "We congratulate our Turkish ally on the occasion of Armed Forces Day," without mentioning "Victory Day."

On August 31, 2022, Erdogan criticized the ambivalence with which the United States deals with his country for its refusal to give Turkiye F-35 fighters and to punish it for its purchase of the S-400 system.

Erdogan blamed NATO on September 2, 2022, for siding with Greece, saying that "the alliance cannot be strong without Turkiye, while Greece has no weight in the alliance."