Türkiye's ballistic missile test 'scares' Greece: Erdogan

Türkiye's ballistic missile test scares Athens, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, asserting that Ankara will not sit idly if Greece continues to arm the Aegean islands.

"Now we have started to build our missiles. Of course, this production frightens the Greek. When you say ‘Tayfun’ (Typhoon), the Greek is scared. They (Greece) say it will hit Athens. Of course, it will hit.

"If you try to buy something (to arm) from here and there, from America to the islands, a country like Türkiye will not be a bystander. It has to do something," Erdogan said at an event in northern Samsun province on Saturday.

In October, Türkiye test-fired domestically produced short-range ballistic missile Tayfun (Typhoon) over the Black Sea. The missile can hit a target at a distance of 561 kilometres in 456 seconds.

Türkiye, a NATO member for over 70 years, has complained of repeated provocative actions and rhetoric by Greece in the region in recent months, including arming islands near Turkish shores that are demilitarised under treaty obligations.

It says that such moves frustrate its good faith efforts towards peace.

READ MORE: Abide by int’l law, stop militarising Aegean islands, Türkiye warns Greece

Terror groups in northern Syria

Turning to another NATO ally, Erdogan criticised the US for giving support and weapons to terrorist organisations in northern Syria.

"America is sending 4,000-5,000 trucks of weapons and ammunition to northern Syria. Even though I've told them this over and over, they don't care.

"We are with you in NATO. Although we are together, you are doing wrong to us and you are on the side of the terrorist organisation... we will pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps," Erdogan said. 

Last month, Türkiye launched Operation Claw-Sword in the northern areas of Iraq and Syria, a cross-border aerial campaign against the terror group PKK, which has hideouts across Iraqi and Syrian borders from where they plan and sometimes execute attacks on Turkish soil.

After the air operation was launched, Erdogan also signalled a ground operation into northern Iraq and northern Syria to eliminate the terror threat.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organisation by Türkiye, the European Union, and the US, and is responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the terrorist PKK's Syrian branch.

READ MORE: Erdogan warns Greece of ‘heavy price’, tells it not to forget history