Erdogan “sends” the Tayfun missile to Greece and opens a new front with the West
A new indirect threat against Greece was launched on Friday by Recep Tayyip Erdoganagainst the backdrop of testing the new Turkish ballistic missile, named “Tayfun”.
The Turkish president who attended the presentation of “Blockchain Istanbul” in the Conference Hall of Istanbul University said among other things:
Read also: Is Tayfun upsetting the balance in the Aegean? What are Erdogan’s goals?
“We are strengthening our air defense systems, missiles, armored vehicles and many other technological tools. Throughout history, we have set an example to the world with our courage and determination, as well as our innovation, productivity and hard work, and today we are demonstrating a similar performance with our technological innovations.
» Now we have Tayfun and this is a message… to someone. We believe we can use this innovative technology to add value to our economy across a wide range of sectors. With this enthusiasm we speed up our work.”
It is characteristic that, no matter how the above sentence of the Turkish president is taken, the Turkish media, such as Hürriyet, Sabah and Milliyet, title the piece with the phrase “a clear message to Greece”.
According to Bloomberg, the missile, which was launched on October 18 over the Black Sea, hit a target 561 km from the coast, almost doubling the range of Turkey’s existing Bora missile.
“These types of (ballistic) missiles have started to spread in the region and around the world,” explains Ian Williams, deputy director of the missile defense program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) to Kathimerini.
“When you think about possible scenarios, particularly in relation to Russia and Iran, it makes sense that Turkey would demonstrate similar capabilities to deter potential adversaries that have such systems,” he says, as he believes the biggest factor that led to the production of Tayfun was Turkey’s relations with Iran.
In his speech, after all, Erdogan stated that “we have expressed on many platforms – especially at the UN – that ‘the world is bigger than five'”, meaning that Turkey can enter among the largest countries in the field of Defense which are the USA, Russia, Britain, China and France.
According to Ian Williams, the testing of a new weapons system alone is upsetting the current situation in the Anat. Mediterranean and the balance of power that has been formed.
“Any advantage on the battlefield depends on the number of such, or similar, weapons systems that Turkey intends to deploy. Equally important is how harmoniously it can be introduced into the existing doctrine and develop military the necessary intelligence gathering, recognition and surveillance capabilities to be used effectively in a conflict,” he points out.
Read also: What’s behind Turkey’s missile test celebrations
The answer of Athens
Referring to the Turkish president’s threats, the government spokesman Yannis Oikonomou emphasized that “he is not convincing anyone” with his fiction, fabrications and propaganda.
“No matter how much Mr. Erdogan and the Turkish leadership try, with myths, with constructions, with propaganda, with threats to create impressions, to panic us, to terrify us, the reality is here and it stubbornly resists” emphasized Mr. Economou in SKAI.
He added that Turkish positions do not convince anyone in the world as everyone realizes that “its claims are non-existent and ahistorical”.
According to the government representative, Greece has managed to do what is needed “to climb many, many, many “tracks” geostrategically and geopolitically.
He assured that our country is not able to respond effectively to every challenge.
“We do not provoke. We are a factor of stability and peace, but we are absolutely unyielding in matters of national sovereignty and we are absolutely capable of managing every threat effectively,” he emphasized.
Erdogan’s new front with the West
At the same time, the Turkish president appears to be opening a new front against the West as he wants to appear as Saudi Arabia’s protector in the dispute with the United States over OPEC+’s decision to cut oil production.
“We see a country coming and threatening Saudi Arabia in particular. This intimidation is not right,” said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.
Through the State Department, however, the Biden administration makes it clear that its decision is not changing. There will be consequences against Riyadh if it cuts oil production. “We believe it was a mistake. We believe it was a decision without vision. The President is going to review his relationship with Saudi Arabia,” White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre said.
In recent days, the Turkish leadership has not hidden its annoyance with Washington’s relations with Greece, while France has also been targeted by Tayyip Erdogan. On the occasion of the condemnation of Lafarge and its admission that it paid millions of dollars to ISIS in order to keep its factory open in Syria, the president accused the French cement company As it emerged as one of the most important institutional supporters of terrorism. And the French for lying.
“When I said how Lafarge had tunneled with concrete, the French didn’t understand. I told Mr. Macron as well. But look now, in the French parliament he called Macron to account. It has become the most important topic on France’s agenda at the moment. Because the liar’s candle burns until nightfall, and this lie did not last,” Erdogan said.
In his speech at the Communication conference of the member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Erdoğan claimed that Turkey is the only country that is fighting hand-to-hand with ISIS terrorists, but despite all this, it is the one that falls under the wrath of slander. In addition, he once again referred to the Islamophobia of the West. “From Kashmir, from Cyprus to Western Thrace, we cannot overcome the attacks without increasing our cooperation,” he said characteristically.