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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Greece to stop arming islands with demilitarized status, warning that Türkiye’s calm approach should not be mistaken for weakness.
Erdogan made the remarks while answering journalists’ questions on his return flight from Bishkek, where he attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit hosted by Kyrgyzstan.
“Greece must turn back from this wrong path and stop arming the islands with demilitarized status,” Erdogan said. “History is a very good guide for those who learn lessons from it.”
Erdogan said Türkiye wants relations with Greece to proceed on the basis of good neighborliness and argued that Ankara has consistently acted sincerely and constructively.
“Türkiye has no eyes on anyone’s land, but it will not allow anyone to trample on its rights,” he said, adding that disregarding international agreements would benefit no one.
“Whoever reads Türkiye’s calm and prudent approach as weakness is making a grave mistake,” Erdogan said.
Erdogan said he held a “very productive” and “very sincere” bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Bishkek, where they discussed the Russia-Ukraine war as well as energy, trade, tourism and investment ties.
He said Türkiye was ready to do everything it could to support a peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
“It is a fact that peace, not war, will win,” Erdogan said. “We are ready to make every effort for this.”
He added that neither Putin nor Türkiye wanted the war to continue and said Ankara wanted peace to prevail in the region as soon as possible.
On the Mecca Defense Alliance between Türkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, Erdogan said the first meeting of its Strategic Political and Military Committee in Istanbul was an important step toward putting the alliance into operation.
He said foreign ministers, defense ministers and chiefs of general staff from the three countries discussed establishing and activating the secretariat, defense industry cooperation, military training, standardization and the sharing of threats, capabilities and resources.
Erdogan said some countries had reacted openly or privately to the alliance but stressed that it was established to promote regional stability and security.
“We will continue our path stronger together with our brothers,” he said.
Asked about the possible transfer of Türkiye’s S-400 systems to a third country, Erdogan said he discussed all bilateral issues with Putin.
He noted that Türkiye had been a partner in the F-35 program and said talks were continuing on Ankara’s possible return.
Erdogan said Türkiye would also continue developing KAAN and its own air defense systems.
“We are not giving up on KAAN. We are not giving up on developing our own air defense systems. On the contrary, we are increasing Türkiye’s options,” he said.
Erdogan also said the security of all civilian commercial shipping in the Black Sea was important to Türkiye, not only Turkish-flagged or Turkish-operated vessels.
He said the conflict should not reach a point where civilian safety and commercial activity are endangered.
“There is a need for a mechanism that will permanently ensure the security of commercial maritime transport in the Black Sea,” Erdogan said.
He also warned that the grain crisis was beginning to re-emerge, particularly in Africa, and said action should be taken before the problem grows further.
Erdogan said Türkiye would continue working for peace, security and stability in the region.
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