Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Tuesday morning received visiting NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, who arrived in the Greek capital from Ankara, all in the wake of nearly a month and a half of activity in the eastern Mediterranean by official Turkey that Greece has vociferously branded as provocations, belligerence and even war-mongering.
“We discussed all that took place over the past few months in the eastern Mediterranean, incidents which threaten peace, stability and even NATO’s very own cohesion,” Mitsotakis said, in beginning a joint press conference with the Alliance’s chief after talks.
In statements aimed at a wider audience, Mitsotakis reiterated that there is no “bilateral difference” with Turkey, but rather issues that affect all NATO member-states and a “challenge for all of Europe.”
“This is a danger that lurks in an area of interest for the United States, as well… It’s up to Turkey to end this path of crisis and to open a path to a solution. We are ready to meet on the second path,” the Greek premier said.
Stoltenberg, who has himself become a target of Greek media amid the Turkish saber-rattling and has, unofficially, irked Athens by his perceived “fence-sitting”, arrived after high-levels talks in Turkey, including with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The meeting comes hours after Turkey announced a NOTAM to aviators and mariners blocking off a portion of the Black Sea in order to test its Russian-made S-400 anti-aircraft missile system. Footage showed tracker-trailer trucks carrying radar units and other installations from the Black Sea city of Samsun to Sinope for the expected trials.
Speculation was rife over the recent period that Turkey activated the S-400 system last month in a bid to try and track Greek F-16s and other western warplanes flying from Crete to the free parts of Cyprus, given that the Turkish air force failed to detect the planes during their flight to the eastern Mediterranean island then, according to reports, failed to intercept them upon return.
The Erdogan government’s procurement of the Russian-made weapons system has generated intense reactions on the part of western countries, most notably the United States, which has “froze” Turkey’s participation in the F-35 program.
