Greece is ready for a military confrontation with Turkey
By : Marwa Mahmoud
Greek Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos has asserted that his country is ready for any possible scenario, including military confrontation with Turkey, if it continues to provoke Athens, news agencies reported on Friday.
In a televised speech, Panagiotopoulos disclosed that his ministry had experienced rising Turkish provocations.
In recent years, Turkey ‘s behavior has been very violent,” according to Panagiotopoulos, “I believe that the only way for Greece to deal with this generally aggressive conduct is, on the one hand, to exhaust all its diplomatic options and, on the other, to ensure an improvement in the deterrence of our military.”
When he asked whether Greece was ready for a military clash with Turkey, Panagiotopoulos responded, “On standby”
“We are prepared for any scenarios. Among them is military intervention. We do not want to go there, but we want to make it clear that we will do whatever it takes to defend our sovereign rights to the fullest extent possible,” he added.
A few days ago, the Turkish government newspaper reported a request for a Turkish state oil company to gain a license to discover oil and gas in the area near the Greek islands.
Regarding this, the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, sent a letter to the European Union on 3 June, warning that this would lead to a Turkish-European crisis.
Turkish President Erdogan said in a press event on Thursday that Turkey, together with the Libyan Government, will explore and develop oil and gas fields in the Mediterranean.
