Erdogan raises rhetoric in Greece standoff in Mediterranean
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Greece to enter talks over disputed eastern Mediterranean territorial claims or face the consequences.
"They're either going to understand the language of politics and diplomacy, or in the field with painful experiences," he said on Saturday at a hospital's opening ceremony in Istanbul.
The two NATO allies have been locked for weeks in a tense standoff in the eastern Mediterranean, where Turkey is prospecting the seabed for energy reserves in an area Greece claims as its own continental shelf.
Cyprus has also accused Turkey of breaching its sovereignty by drilling in their waters. All sides have deployed naval and air force to assert their competing claims in the region.
"They are going to understand that Turkey has the political, economic and military power to tear up the immoral maps and documents imposed," Erdogan added, referring to areas marked by Greece and Cyprus as their economic maritime zones.
He said Turkey was "ready for every eventuality and result".
NATO said this week Greek and Turkish leaders had agreed to take part in technical talks to avoid accidents between their navies.
But Greece later said it had not agreed to the talks, leading to accusations from Turkey that the European Union country was shunning dialogue.
On Saturday, a Turkish news report said Ankara redeployed armoured personnel carriers from the Syrian border to the one it shares with Greece.
The Cumhuriyet newspaper said 40 tanks were being transported from the Syrian border to Edirne in northwest Turkey and carried photographs of armoured vehicles loaded on trucks.
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