Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for no more bilateral contacts with Greece. “I told my friends that too. We no longer have bilateral talks with them,” Erdogan said in Ankara on Wednesday.
Addressing Greece, he added: “Don’t you dare dance with Turkey. You would just be tired and fall by the wayside.” The tone between the two countries had recently become much more heated due to various issues.
Last week, the Turkish president was outraged by a warning from Greece about arms sales in the region and canceled strategic talks with Athens. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had previously warned of instability in the eastern Mediterranean during a visit to Washington – this should be considered when deciding on arms sales in the region. Turkey has been trying to buy new fighter jets from the United States for a long time.
It was not until mid-March that the two countries decided, after the start of the Russian war against Ukraine, that they wanted to improve their heavily strained relations. In recent weeks, Greece has increasingly voiced sharp criticism of Turkish fighter jets flying over Greek islands in the eastern Aegean. Turkey, for its part, has denied the allegations, claiming that Athens is trying to create a “misperception” about Turkey.
