The Turkish government has formally demanded an explanation from the government of Greece after insults against Turkey were hurled by Greek soldiers during a military parade in Athens, held yesterday to mark Greek Independence Day. The Turkish government described the behaviour, which has caused a major scandal on social networks, as ‘impertinent’.
Turkish media sources reported that the insults were hurled during chants that a company of marines from the Greek naval forces performed on 25 March at a military parade in Athens; in a video clip recorded by several people attending the parade, the soldiers can be seen repeatedly chanting the slogan ‘Cyprus is Greek, Turkey can go f**k themselves’, arousing astonishment but also applause among part of the audience.
The controversial images with the chants went viral on social networks, receiving numerous criticisms. The Turkish government responded immediately upon learning of the incident, and the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement calling the incident ‘insolent’ and ‘unacceptable’, and announced that it had demanded an immediate explanation from the Greek authorities.
Ankara also pointed out that this behaviour not only disparages Turkey and Turkish Cypriots, but also undermines the good bilateral relations that Turkey and Greece have maintained in recent years.
Greek army launches a disciplinary investigation
Greek media have reported in the last few hours that the Ministry of Defence of Greece took immediate action as soon as the facts were known, and that the command of the Greek naval forces has already opened a disciplinary investigation into the incident. The main opposition party in Greece, the leftist coalition SYRIZA, also denounced the chants at the military parade as unacceptable, demanding a thorough investigation into what happened.
Greece and Turkey have considerably improved their complicated relations over the years, especially as a result of the aid provided by Greece to Turkey during the earthquakes that devastated south-eastern Anatolia in 2023, to which Ankara responded by sending teams to fight the wildfires that ravaged the outskirts of Athens and several Aegean islands that same summer. In December 2023, Erdoğan made his first visit to Athens in six years, and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is scheduled to visit Turkey in the coming months to attend a high-level bilateral summit.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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