Tayyip Erdogan launched a new attack against Athens with the false claim that it used the Russian S-300 system in order to “lock down” a Turkish F-16. In fact, he involved NATO, while connecting the matter with Greece’s intention to procure F-35s, as well as with the “no” of Congress to the procurement of F-16s from Ankara, due to the S-400s it has bought from Moscow .
“Greece is not a similar country to us. Recent developments have revealed the truth to all. Radar jamming on our F-16 aircraft by the Russian S-300 is hostile behavior. Especially if this plane is on NATO duty, it means it was directly targeting NATO. In fact, he has challenged NATO and its allies, not us,” the Turkish president said. While immediately afterwards he hastened to add: “We wonder how America itself will react to the activation of the S-300 systems. We would not use F-35 and S-400 in the same system. No one should doubt that Greece, which knows no borders, will commit this recklessness. The issue is not the use of Russian air systems and American systems together, but Turkey. The only meaning for us to be given the planes we demand is as a sign of friendship to our country.”
With the phrase “we are experiencing a peak period of Turkish provocation” and pointing out that “all the data show an escalating attack and the implementation of the plan to instrumentalize unhappy people”, Citizen Protection Minister T. Theodorikakos, yesterday, at a special parliamentary committee meeting, described the situation on our eastern borders and especially on the Evros.
The Minister of Citizen Protection noted that “since the beginning of the year, the police prevented the entry of 154,102 illegal immigrants”, adding that “in August alone, 36,386 illegal immigrants attempted to enter Greece from the land border at Evros”. In this context, he announced on the one hand the “extension of the fence along the entire length of the Greek-Turkish border on the Evros” and on the other hand the taking of measures to “upgrade the electronic surveillance system with the most modern available”.
