Turkish media harp on Greek weapon acquisitions - Outrageous claims

As SKAI television reported, the reports reflect widespread concern about Greece’s armament choices, while there is no shortage of theories about a strategic encirclement of Turkey by Greece, Israel and France.

The Turkish newspaper writes on its front page: “Concentration of missiles in the Aegean. Will the Exocets be used against Turkey?”, while Hurriyet notes that Greece is also planning an additional Belharra frigate. Accordingly, Haberturk highlights the purchase of anti-ship missiles from France, presenting the developments as part of a hostile strategy against Ankara.

In a CNN Turk broadcast, analysts expressed the view that "Greece is threatening us with weapons", emphasizing, however, that Turkey now has its own missiles with a range of 1,000 kilometers that "will reach 5,000". In the same broadcast, the statements of the Greek Chief of General Staff, Dimitris Houpis, who referred to Turkey as a threat and stated that Greece can react anywhere within five minutes, were characterized as "scandalous".

Turkish commentators brought up the claim of French influence in the Eastern Mediterranean through Greece, while analyst Coşkun Başbuğ argued that "Israel seeks to use Greece and Greek Cypriots against Turkey". He even spoke of alleged attempts to include Egypt in this axis, adding: “They go and arm the entire Aegean from Alexandroupolis to Crete, even Kastelorizo ​​– which is actually ours!”

According to Turkish media, Greece and Israel recently planned to lay a cable east of Kasos and Karpathos, with Ankara claiming that the area falls within the Turkish continental shelf and claiming that Athens “postponed the plan after a reaction from the Turkish Ministry of Defense.”

The climate in Turkish news reflects the nervousness caused in Ankara by the strengthening of Greek deterrent capabilities, at a time when relations between the two countries continue to balance fragile geopolitical stability.