Ankara says Greece challenged NATO, allies by intercepting Turkish jets

ANKARA

Türkiye's president on Tuesday lashed out against Greece over the harassment of Turkish jets carrying out reconnaissance missions over the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, calling it a "hostile act."

"Greece has challenged NATO and its allies by increasing its hostile attitude, which started with harassing our airspace and aircraft and escalated to the level of S-300 radar lockdown," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, ahead of a celebration concert for the centenary of Türkiye's Victory Day at the presidential complex in Ankara.

The Turkish leader added: "Greece can neither match up to us nor become an interlocutor for us politically, economically or militarily."

Citing Greece's latest actions, Erdogan said: "We are curious about the US response to Greek air defense system's harassment of Turkish jets."

Türkiye, a NATO member, has often criticized the military alliance, including the US, for not supporting it enough on its territorial dispute with Greece on islands in the Aegean and the issue of exploration of hydrocarbons in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Erdogan further said the Greek move to establish bases on the Aegean islands does not hold any importance for Türkiye.

Referring to the US move to waive sanctions on India despite its purchase of Russian S-400 defense systems, Erdogan said the issue is not the compatibility of Russian and US military equipment. "It is Türkiye in particular," he said.

Stressing Türkiye is able to produce every product that it is denied access to, Erdogan criticized the US for blocking the sale of F-35 jets to Ankara over the purchase of S-400 defense systems.