Turkey Threatens Greece with War // FAI ONLINE

The Greek coast guard announced that one of its vessels had fired “warning shots” towards a “suspicious” Turkish-flagged cargo vessel in international waters of the Aegean Sea on Saturday, as tensions continue to ratchet up between Turkey and Greece over ongoing maritime disputes. No casualties were reported in Saturday’s incident, after the cargo ship refused orders from the Greek vessel to allow boarding for inspection, a regular procedure in waters known as a route for smuggling Mideast migrants to the EU. Small arms fire was reported by the captain of the Turkish ship before it was escorted back to Turkish waters by the Greek ship near the Turkish island of Bozcaada. Turkish coast guard ships were dispatched to intervene, but arrived after the Greek coast guard had left the area.

Saturday’s incident is the latest in a string of recent confrontations between the Greek and Turkish governments, both NATO member states, who have a long history of war, diplomatic disputes, and genocide. The latest row began when Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that the Greek military was illegally “occupying” Greek islands close to the Turkish coast which were demilitarized in a previous treaty. Erdogan alleged that Greek-owned S-300 anti-aircraft batteries on the islands were used to lock onto Turkish fighter jets in August. Greek F-16’s also allegedly locked onto Turkish jets during NATO exercises over the Eastern Mediterranean last month. Erdogan stirred international media last weekend with his remarks at a political rally in regards to Greece’s militarization of the islands, warning the Greek government that “when the time comes, we will do what is necessary. As we said, one night we can suddenly come down on you.” Erdogan, a student of Turkish poetry, has quoted the line “one night we can suddenly come down on you” from a famous Turkish poem in the past. Ironically, the line is from a love poem, but the Turkish president has consistently used it with an antagonistic connotation, including in 2016 before invading Syrian Kurdistan to attack Kurdish militias there.

Erdogan and his cabinet have also leveled their public rhetoric against the United States in recent days, as the US Congress and American President Joe Biden show increasing hesitancy to complete a deal for the sale of US F-16 fighter jets to Turkey. Interior minister Suleyman Soylu accursed the United States of supporting Kurdish terrorist groups and suggested that Turkey wants to “wipe out” the US from the Middle East. Erdogan commented that he hopes the US will not “force” the Turkish state to “take other paths in this relationship,” suggesting a widening divide between the two governments.

Greece claims that the anti-aircraft batteries on their islands near Turkey are necessary as a deterrent against recent Turkish aggression in the Aegean. In 2020, a Turkish exploratory vessel entered disputed waters between Greece and Turkey, and Turkish warplanes have recently overflown the same waters, where both nations claim overlapping continental shelves. Tensions between Turkey and Greece are also increasing on land, as Greece prepares to build another 140 kilometers of fencing along the Turkish border in order to restrict the flow of migrants into the European Union. Turkey is home to over one million Middle Eastern refugees, most of whom had fled from ongoing wars in Syria and Afghanistan. Erdogan has previously exploited the refugees as a bargaining chip, threatening to release them across the border into Europe if EU states opposed various Turkish policies.

The increase in Greek-Turkish tensions come at a significant time, as Turkey celebrated its “Victory Day” commemorating the victory of the Turkish revolution over Greek and other European armed forces who occupied parts of Turkey following the Turkish Ottoman Empire’s defeat at the end of World War I. The Turkish revolutionary army was led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, considered the father of the modern Turkish state which replaced the Ottoman dynasty in 1924. Millions of ethnic Greek, Armenian and Kurdish civilians were massacred and driven out of their homes by Turkish revolutionaries during WWI and the subsequent war for independence, including over 100,000 killed and 400,000 displaced during the Turkish “liberation” of the city of Izmir (Biblical Smyrna) after the Greek and Armenian quarters of the city were burned to the ground in September, 1922. The Turkish government still refuses to recognize this historic program of murder and ethnic cleansing as genocide.

As incidents of war, strife, earthquakes and famines continue to mount across the Middle East, we would ask the Maranatha global community to continue in prayer for unreached people groups across the region. We pray for the schemes of the enemy to be restrained, for divine wisdom to be granted to international leaders, and for each calamity and catastrophe to open “wide, effectual doors” for laborers of the Mideast harvest fields.

Maranatha.