Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened Greece again on Wednesday claiming that the newly-tested ballistic missile has “Athens within its range.”

Speaking during a joint live broadcast on the ATV and Haber channels, Erdogan referred to the ballistic missile Tayfun (Typhoon) claiming that it has frightened Greece.

“The range of 561 kilometers (348.56 miles) is to be extended further… Of course, these 561 kilometers started to frighten the Greeks because Athens is completely within its range, they gave a red alert,” the Daily Sabah quotes him as saying.

Amid renewed tension between the two Mediterranean neighbors, Erdogan also warned Greece that it must come to its senses.

“Greece needs to come to its senses. They must learn that provocation and instigation will not get them anywhere,” he was quoted as saying.

Turkey’s new missile has range to hit Athens and most of Greece

In October, Turkey test-fired the ballistic missile over the Black Sea.

A video of the launch of Tayfun, which was apparently fired from a mobile platform near the port city of Rize, was shown on Turkish media outlets CNN Turk and A Haber.

The Turkish defense industry, which oversees these weapon systems, did not make any announcement about the launch.

As part of project ‘Typhoon’, #Turkey tests domestically produced short-range ballistic #missile over #BlackSea, missile flies 561 km (350 miles), falling off the coast of #Turkish port city of Sinop.
Via @IntelRepublic pic.twitter.com/rg7rsopHAe

— Ninjamonkey ?? (@Aryan_warlord) October 18, 2022

The testing marked the furthest any such domestically-produced weapon developed in the country has traveled, according to sources speaking to Bloomberg.

To date, the longest-range missile system Turkey possesses has been the Bora, a tactical ballistic missile developed by the Turkish company Roketsan.

Its export version is called Khan with a minimum range of eighty kilometers and a maximum range of 280 kilometers. It was tested and entered service in May 2017. The Bora-2 version with a longer range is under development.

Turkey’s growing defense industry has been a cornerstone of Erdogan‘s assertive foreign policy over the last few years.

Erdogan threatens Greece

The Turkish President has been threatening to attack Greece over what he says are provocative actions by Athens, including the so-called militarization of Greek islands and the possible extension of Greek territorial waters in the Aegean.

Famously he recently warned Greece that Turkey may suddenly come one night:

“When the time comes, we will do what’s necessary [, and as] we say, we may come suddenly one night,” he said, using his often-repeated words when he talked about launching an operation into neighboring Syria.

Relations between Greece and deteriorated after Erdogan said Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis “no longer exists” for him, when the Greek premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis lobbied to block sales of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey during a visit to the United States.

In May, Erdogan cut ties with Mitsotakis and declared all other channels of communication between the countries closed.

SOURCE: GreekReporter.com