Turkey VP doubles down on threatening rhetoric
Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay launched his own barrage of threats against Greece on Friday, doubling down on earlier threats by Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar.
“On the centenary [of the Asia Minor Campaign], when such a powerful Turkey exists, as it does within the ‘Blue Homeland’, can those that recklessly and illegally fight display the same courage? The Greek, then as now, does not have courage. Not the Greek nor anyone else,” said Oktay.
“Those who covet and target the democracy, stability, and the interests of Turkey in the area, are they really aware of the consequences they face?” he asked, concluding that “those who are envious, both within and outside our country, will be thrown into the sea, like we did then. Let no one doubt this.”
Friday on the 100th anniversary of the Great Offensive, a major counterattack launched by the Turkish army under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk against Greek forces in 1922. Friday also marks the anniversary of the 1071 Battle of Manzikert which opened the door for the eventual Turkish conquest of Anatolia.
