Greece boosts defence amid Turkey tensions

Greece's prime minister outlined plans on Saturday to upgrade the country's defense capabilities, including purchases of new fighter planes, frigates, helicopters and weapons systems, amid heightened tensions with neighboring Turkey over rights to resources in the eastern Mediterranean.In an annual state of the economy speech, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Greece would obtain 18 new French-made Rafale fighter planes, among other steps to enhance the Greek military.

"We are a peaceful country, ready to cooperate with all our neighbours, including with Turkey," Mitsotakis said, speaking from the northern city of Thessaloniki.If Turkey disagrees on the delineation of maritime boundaries in the eastern Aegean, he said, then a solution could be found at the International Court.

Greece and Turkey have conducted rival naval exercises amid their standoff.On Friday, Turkey announced live-fire exercises starting on Saturday and running through Monday between its southern coast and northern Cyprus."Ankara is now adding to the provocations in the Aegean, the undermining of peace in the entire Mediterranean," Mitsotakis said. "It is threatening the eastern borders of Europe, and it is undermining security in a sensitive crossroads of three continents."Adding to the tensions the country is currently facing, last week Moria migrant camp on the island of Lesbos was burnt to the ground, leaving around 13,000 asylum seekers on the streets.

"What happened in Moria, for example, showed that COVID and the migration issue are an explosive mix and that the latter is related to our national security and may trigger blind reactions," Mitsotakis said.The Moria camp was built to house around 2,750 but overcrowding led to more than 12,500 people living in squalor, and had been held up by critics as a symbol of the European Union's migration policy failings.

(Image Credit: AP)