Experts call Greece’s ‘hostile act’ against Türkiye ‘shocking’

ANKARA (AA) – Greece has engaged in what is being considered a “hostile act” against NATO ally Türkiye during a NATO mission over the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean seas.

On the August 23 “harassment” (radar locking) by a Russian-made S-300 air defense system stationed on the Greek island of Crete, expert and diplomat Matt Bryza said: “… as Ankara has stated, clearly this is considered a hostile act according to normal military procedures. It’s shocking to me that one NATO ally would take such action against another NATO ally.”

Bryza, a senior researcher at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, called the incident “a further sign of escalation” by the Greek side, rejecting Ankara’s efforts to decrease bilateral tensions that rose in August 2020.

“I think from Ankara’s perspective, it tried to de-escalate what Athens decided to escalate. The locking of a Turkish F-16 by the S-300 radars is a further sign of escalation as is the pushing back of migrants in the Aegean Sea from the Greek side of the Aegean and back into the Turkish side,” he said.

Regarding Greek media reports which claim that the incident was a result of Türkiye “deciding to provoke” Athens, he said: “That’s a completely false narrative. And I think the Greek political leadership is using fear of Türkiye as a way to strengthen itself domestically in Greek domestic politics.”

Tudor Onea, an academic at the International Relations department of Bilkent University in Ankara, describes the ties between the countries as “friendly rivalry.”

The real root behind the rivalry is the discovery of reserves of natural gas in the Mediterranean, he said. This rekindled, in fact, the whole issue about having a clear demarcation line between the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of Greece and Türkiye, he added.

The only way that Greece can resist is to bring in help from outside, he said, adding that Greece has adopted this as the “modus operandi” for years.

While Türkiye has often criticized NATO, including the US, for not supporting it enough on its territorial dispute with Greece, he said the biggest areas of concern for the US right now are East Asia and Russia.

“As far as the US is concerned, it does not want to blow up it into something bigger. It would appeal to put pressure on both sides to reach some sort of diplomatic accommodation. And definitely not to escalate (the tension) to the point where there is a risk and serious response,” he said, adding that the US has decent relations with both sides to ensure peace in the region.