ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey marked on Sunday the 98th anniversary of the decisive war of the war of independence opposed to the Greek forces, as the risk of a new confrontation with Athens looms in the Mediterranean.
“Turkey’s struggle for independence and long-term independence also continues,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a message to commemorate Victory Day.
“It is not by chance that those who seek to exclude us from the eastern Mediterranean are the same invaders as those who tried to invade our country a century ago.
In recent weeks, Turkish and Greek forces have been involved in a series of cat and mouse army trainings in the seas between Cyprus and the Greek island of Crete. The confrontation broke out when Turkey sent a study vessel accompanied by warships in search of oil and fuel reserves.
GREECE, an EU member, says the waters are part of its continental shelf and has won the help of the 27-nation bloc, which has condemned Turkey’s “illegal activities” and warned of imaginable sanctions opposing Ankara.
Turkey says Greece and others are denying their right to explore energy resources in the Mediterranean.
Greece and Cyprus have recently joined through France, Italy and the United Arab Emirates to establish naval and air warfare games in the region.
On Saturday, Turkey began its own manoeuvres until 9/11 off its south coast. The Turkish Ministry of Defense also published photographs in the cockpit of what it described as Turkish aircraft simulating air combat with Greek F-16s between Crete and Cyprus.
“No one should have any doubts about our resolve in this matter and our unshakeable belief in victory,” Erdogan said.
In an interview with AHaber station on Saturday night, Chancellor Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Greece extending its territorial waters from six to 12 nautical miles would be a “cause of war.” Earlier this week, Athens announced plans to expand its maritime border with Italy to 12 nautical miles.
Erdogan deposited a floral offering at Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s tomb in Ankara later on Sunday. Turkey would “give in to threats, intimidation and blackmail, especially in the eastern Mediterranean,” he said at the ceremony.
Ataturk led Turkish troops in the fight for independence after World War I and continued to identify Turkey.
At other commemorations, troops marched in Ankara while in Istanbul, others waved car flags in an impromptu procession. Turkish warships will stop at 20 ports around Turkey and northern Cyprus for flag ceremonies at sunset.
The occasions that marked the Battle of Dumlupinar in 1922, which saw Turkish forces overwhelm Greek troops in western Anatolia, were stifled due to measures opposed to coronaviruses. This has led to claims that Erdogan’s Islam-led government must downplay the achievements of the secular Ataturk regime.
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