Israel-Turkey relations have run hot and cold under Turkey’s jihadist “president for life” Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and right now they’re enjoying another cold spell. Turkey said it wanted an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel stopping another stupid “Gaza Flotilla” (which, like previous incarnations, were designed to deliver headlines and weapons rather than aid). Israel hit an airbase in Syria where Turkey was building up supplies to station troops. But Israel also found a non-kinetic way to hit back at Turkey as well: Selling air defense systems to Greece.
Amid Turkey’s growing threat to the region, Israel is helping Greece build a missile and drone defense system. The multi-billion-dollar deal, set to be signed early next week, seeks to create a multi-layered air defense shield protecting the Mediterranean nation.
“Greece and Israel are expected to sign agreements on Monday in Tel Aviv on the “Achilles’ Shield” programme, totaling €3 billion [$3.6 billion],” the Greek business daily Naftemporiki reported Friday.
Achilles’ Shield, named after the mythological Greek hero, will be jointly built by Israeli and Greek defense manufacturers. According to the newspaper, “the new anti-aircraft, anti-ballistic and counter-drone system will be operational within 35 months.”
“It will comprise a range of weapons systems creating overlapping “domes” over the entire Greek territory, supported by an integrated command-and-control system and involving the participation of Greece’s defense industry,” the daily added.
The project is already in an advanced stage. Israel has tested the components of the new system on its Iron Dome platform. “The system is designed to combine existing Greek assets, including Patriot air defense systems and drones already deployed at military facilities on islands and the mainland, with Israeli-made air defense platforms,” the English edition of Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported Friday. “Officials say the systems incorporated into Achilles’ Shield have already been integrated into Israel’s Iron Dome architecture and tested against aerial attacks.”
The conflict between Greeks and Turks is much, much older than the Turkish state itself, stretching back not only to the early days of the Ottoman Empire, but to the Byzantine Empire (more Hellenic than Roman, especially at its height), which controlled almost all of the land occupied by modern Turkey. But it was the Turkish Seljuk Empire’s conquest of Anatolia that set up Greeks and Turks for a millennium of on-again, off-again conflict.
There’s little love lost between the Turks and the Greeks (or, indeed, Turks and any of their neighbors)…
…so Israel selling Greece advanced anti-air and anti-drone systems to their ancient enemies is an especially big “Fuck You” to Ankara, especially since F-35 sales to Turkey are still on hold, and the mainstay of their air force are non-stealthy F-16s. Its also fills a huge need for Greece, given the difficulty of securing airspace over its wide array of Aegean islands, one of which, Samos, lies all of a mile off the Turkish mainland across the Mycale Strait.
Historically, Israel enjoyed better relations with Turkey and Iran (both non-Arab nations) than any other Muslim nations. Khomeini’s revolution in 1979 ended that with Iran, and Erdogan’s rise has similarly wrecked relations with Turkey (though, unlike in Iran, not to the point of armed conflict). Ankara obviously desires to become a regional power, a goal quite possible due to the collapse of Assad in Syria and conflicts that have weakened Iran and Russia.
But butting heads with Israel, a country with a far more technologically advanced military than its own, is not a recipe for success.
Tags: Achilles’ Shield, Aegean Sea, anti-drone, arms sales, Benjamin Netanyahu, F-16, F-35, Gaza, Gaza Flotilla, Hamas, history, Iron Dome, Israel, Jihad, Military, Mycale Strait, Patriot Missiles, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Samos, Turkey
They’ve been fighting back and forth across that body of water as long as there’s been recorded history – Thermopylae and Troy come to mind.
Getting and keeping both Greece and a Turkey as “allies” in NATO is one of the miracles of the Cold War.
The enmity between Greeks and Turks is real and it is hardwired in. I have traveled in Greece a bit, and normally I know to leave it alone. But one day in Syros I ordered a Greek meal and the waitress asked in beautiful English if I wanted a Greek Coffee with my meal. I was curious, said absolutely. She brought out the copper kettle, the burner, the freshly ground coffee, prepared it tableside.
It was a bit of a show and she was enjoying the process and I took my first sip and I was enjoying the coffee.
And the the stupid imp of the perverse reared its head, and without even thinking the words I said, “So what is the difference between this and Turkish coffee?”
And before the last word was out of my mouth I wanted them all back.
I apologized but she thought I was making fun of her AND Greece.
It was a good coffee, too.
Hmm ZivBnd, sounds like Greeks are pretty contentious too. She might’ve made an enemy for life.
Israeli politicians, like Naftali Bennett, have already announced that Turkey is next on their list if they succeed in taking out Iran. Turkey is a rival potential hegemon with a much sounder historical claim to dominate the region. Erdogan is a flexible snake, so he has no problem cooperating with Israel on projects of mutual interest like carving up Syria, but he can’t have any illusions about Israeli good will.
The Turks view a Greek/Israeli alliance as sufficient provocation to begin war plans: “How dare you take precautions against our neo-Ottoman ambitions!”
“ANKARA — Turkey’s Defense Ministry has disclosed that it is actively preparing for scenarios ranging from crisis and heightened tension to outright war, as Ankara closely monitors a rapidly expanding military partnership between Israel and Greece, according to an official government document.
“In a letter sent to parliament on August 10 and signed by Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, the ministry said work concerning “possible crisis, tension and war” in Turkey’s surrounding region is continuing in full coordination among all relevant state institutions.
The unusually explicit reference to war came in response to a parliamentary inquiry focused specifically on Greece’s military posture in the Aegean and its growing defense relationship with Israel.”
https://kayhan.ir/en/news/153108/turkey-preparing-for-war-over-israeli-greek-axis-document-reveals
“Turkey is a rival potential hegemon with a much sounder historical claim to dominate the region.”
This area was culturally Hellenistic from the time of Alexander the Great’s conquest to the fall of Constantinople, approximately two millennia. It was also the location of several early church ecumenical councils, to include those of Nicea and Chalcedon (Nicean creed, Chalcedonian definition of the hypostatic union of Christ).
Historical claims to “Asia Minor” are Greek and Christian. The Saracens are recent interlopers.
The Greeks had their chance to grab land in Asia Minor upon the demise of the Ottoman Empire, but Mustafa Kemal (later Ataturk) ended up kicking their asses, leaving them with less than nothing to show for their efforts.
“This area was culturally Hellenistic from the time of Alexander the Great’s conquest to the fall of Constantinople…” I would welcome the restoration of the Byzantine Empire, but I cannot see that on the horizon. Current contenders for regional hegemon are Israel, Turkey, and Iran. Israel’s claim is definitely the weakest of these.
“Mustafa Kemal (later Ataturk) ended up kicking their asses, leaving them with less than nothing to show for their efforts.”
Perhaps this explains their eagerness to form an alliance with Israel. They have already suffered enough at the hands of the Turks.
“Current contenders for regional hegemon are Israel, Turkey, and Iran. Israel’s claim is definitely the weakest of these.”
If Israel is excluded from consideration, then there is nothing to choose between Turkey and Iran. Either would give financial support to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Iran was at economic parity with Turkey prior to the ascent of Ali Khamenei in 1989 but have since declined dramatically. They now generate only one-third of Turkey’s per capita GDP. However, 1/3 of their oil revenues are allocated to the IRGC, so they are disproportionately troubling. .
It’s better to curb Iranian ambitions first and only then address the Turkish menace.
Turkey – like most of the Middle East – is a loose collection of tribes that cannot and will never get along. The Kurds are the largest group and occupy vast territories in Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq. Then there is the Sunni/Shiite (and several variations) split to further divide the groups. Add to this economical imbalances, cultural spats, and governmental chaos and corruption and you have today’s wonderful Disney Land of Arab and Persian insanity.
“Turkey – like most of the Middle East – is a loose collection of tribes that cannot and will never get along.”
Well alright then…prepare to embrace the *hopelessly fractured* hegemon.
“Mustafa Kemal (later Ataturk) ended up kicking their asses, leaving them with less than nothing to show for their efforts.”
With the help of the British and Greeks. Britain was supporting a Greek bid to retake European Turkey and the Anatolian coast along the Aegean Sea. They were ethnically Greek in 1919. When the Greeks got control of those regions, the British told them to stop and make nice with the Turks.
Instead, the Greeks flipped the Brits the fig symbol, and told the Brits the Greeks were fighting and not Britain, and by God, Greece was going to take all of Anatolia.
The Brits wanted a rump Turkey to counterbalance what was going on in Russia. So, after the Greeks flipped them off, the Brits stopped supplying the Greeks, gave the weapons and supplies to the Turks, who stopped when the British said stop after retaking coastal Anatolia and European Turkey.
the lack of a provision in the North Atlantic Treaty to allow for expulsion of a member was a grave oversight. turkey should have been given the boot many years ago.
When the Ottomans entered WW1, Britain and France agreed that Russia would get Constantinople and the Straits after the war. The Bolsheviks’ withdrawal from the war canceled that claim; i.e., if it weren’t for the Communists, “Istanbul” would have been a Russian city for 100+ years now.