Greece can't beat Ankara in war, says chief of Turkey's war college

Greece cannot fight and win a war against Turkey, the rector of the Turkish National Defense University, Erhan Afyoncu, said on Monday in comments that were broadcast on television.

A historian who has led Turkey's premier defence training institution since it was founded in 2016, Afyoncu said Turkey was producing more officers than Athens and was therefore well placed in a potential conflict between the two neighbours.

The academic is charged with training a new generation of officers after the failed military coup of 2016.

“I enroll four times more students than the Hellenic Naval Academy, and my quotas are full,” Afyoncu told CNN Turk.

“My Military Academy quotas are more than eight times theirs, and they are full. My Air Force Academy quotas are also full,” he added.

Afyoncu stressed that Greece has no chance of catching up with Turkey’s capabilities, noting that while both countries have the same number of frigates - 16 in total - Turkey has a population eight times larger than Greece.

“If you buy so many planes, so many frigates, so many weapons, you are spending your nation’s resources on arms for a war you cannot win,” he said, clarifying that he believed dialogue rather than military conflict was the solution to tensions between the states.

“You have no chance of winning that war, and we do not want war. Let us sit down and talk about our problems. Let us discuss our issues in the Aegean and work together in the region.”

'They cannot find soldiers'

According to the official, while Greece has armaments and equipment, it lacks the officers needed to operate them.

He pointed to a recent purchase of French ships by Greece, which he said was redundant because there weren't enough officers to operate them.

“They cannot find soldiers. They cannot find young people willing to become soldiers,” he said.

Afyoncu made his remarks as Turkey hosted a technology and military fair called Teknofest Blue Homeland over the weekend.

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As part of the activities, select units of the Turkish navy, including its multipurpose amphibious assault ship, held a parade along Istanbul’s shoreline on Sunday afternoon.

Nato allies Turkey and Greece have long standing disputes in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea.

Tensions revolve around the delimitation of territorial waters and exclusive economic zones, as well as the status of demilitarised Greek islands.

Relations were particularly strained between 2020 and 2023 but calmed after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis agreed to open dialogue and hold a series of meetings to resolve the outstanding issues.

Greek officials have also made controversial statements on occasion.

In April, Dimitrios Houpis, chief of the general staff of national defence, told an audience that Turkey remained a threat.

“We are determined, without any conditions, to respond within five minutes, wherever and whenever necessary,” he said.