AHEPA Supreme President E. Chris Kaitson commends U.S. Senator Rick Scott for his statement this weekend regarding Turkey, in which he argues Ankara engages in “thuggish behavior” towards Greece and Cyprus.
The Florida Senator went on to say, “You’re not acting like a NATO ally when you take F-16s and fly over somebody else’s country. You’re not much of an ally when you occupy a portion of another country’s land. And that’s what they’re doing.”
These claims come ahead of decades of tension between Greece and Turkey -primarily the 50+ year Turkish occupation of Cyprus and additional territorial claims over the Aegean sea. Additionally, estimates from from the Hellenic National Defense General Staff (GEETHA) have reported Turkey in violation of Greek airspace more than 13,000 times in the past five years alone.
“This behavior is absolutely unacceptable from a country which claims to be a reliable NATO ally,” said Kaitson, “AHEPA has stood beside Greece and Cyprus in the face of Turkish aggression for decades and we applaud Senator Scott for his recognition of this deplorable and adversarial behavior.”
