The Minister of Defense of Greece, Nikos Dendias, indicated this Friday that the Greek Government will advance the creation of “an anti-missile defense wall” with the deployment of anti-aircraft systems on the eastern Aegean islands, located just a few kilometers west of the western coast of Türkiye.
“The islands will become units of power and will prevent any idea of overthrowing the (current) regime in the Aegean“he said during a speech at the Naval Cadet School in Athens.
Dendias thus made an allusion to Türkiye’s claims regarding the existence of “gray zones” in the eastern Aegean and his questioning of Greek sovereignty over certain islands and islets near the Turkish coast.
“Greece, for defend your sovereignty and your sovereign rightswill proceed with the creation of an anti-missile defense wall in the Aegean,” the minister stressed.
The Greek Government had already announced in November a plan to restructure and modernize its Armed Forces in order to economize funds and focus on new anti-aircraft and anti-drone systems, after the lessons learned from Ukraine.
“Every unit of the Greek Army will have anti-drone capability and 3 of the 4 types of battalions that we are creating will also have the capability of launch drones“Dendias then said, pointing out that the Navy’s anti-aircraft capacity would also be reinforced.
Regarding the air defense unitsGreece has the American Patriot and Russian S-300 systems.
Like the Israeli ‘Iron Dome’
According to the local press, the new anti-aircraft defense system planned by Athens will “emulate” in a certain sense the Israeli ‘Iron Dome’ system.
“One of the countries from which Greece could acquire this technology is Israelgiven the knowledge and technical experience he has on this issue,” said a source familiar with the plan to strengthen the country’s Armed Forces.
However, a possible deployment of new anti-aircraft systems on the eastern Aegean islands could rekindle tensions between Greece and Türkiye.
Ankara assures that These islands must remain demilitarized in accordance with the treaty of Lausanne of 1923 and that of Paris of 1947, and that Greece is violating these agreements with the transfer of soldiers and military equipment to the islands.
Decades of confrontations
For its part, Athens rejects all interference from Türkiye and defends its right to take the measures it sees necessary to defend its territory against what it calls Türkiye’s “expansionist desires.”
Furthermore, it highlights the supposed threat of the “Aegean Army”one of the four main formations of the Turkish Army, deployed on the country’s western coast.
Greece and Türkiye, NATO allies but historical rivals, have decades faced over a series of issues ranging from the delimitation of airspace to maritime jurisdiction in the eastern Mediterranean and the division of Cyprus.
#Greece #create #antiaircraft #defense #wall #Aegean #islands #Turkey
