Turkish academician’s remarks on Athens' defense spending draw Greek media attention

By Tugba Altun and Asiye Latife Yilmaz

ANKARA / ISTANBUL (AA) – A Turkish university academician's remarks gained prominence in the Greek media when he said Ankara has no intention of attacking Greece but criticized Athens for its excessive defense spending under the pretext of "regional security concerns."

Erhan Afyoncu, rector of Türkiye's National Defense University, emphasized that Ankara has legitimate rights in the Aegean Sea and does not claim Greek territory, which drew attention from Greek media earlier this week.

The Greek news outlet Newsbeast covered a conversation between Afyoncu and a Greek military officer in which the Turkish academician criticized Greece's military spending, saying, "You are spending 500-600 million euros to buy frigates from France.

“Why are you purchasing them? If a war breaks out with Türkiye tomorrow, you will have no chance of standing against us. But we have no intention to attack you. They are selling you weapons for no reason."

He also pointed out that, despite having a significantly smaller population than Türkiye, Athens allocates a defense budget similar to Ankara's, arguing that this spending is disproportionate and unnecessary in the regional context.