Turkey Considers Secret Operation in Greece, Report Says

Turkey plans to deploy a secretive, specially trained unit connected to intelligence agency MIT to escalate tensions with Greece, a report in Nordic Monitor said on Sunday.

The MIT unit, the existence of which has never been publicly confirmed, is a relatively new tool in the arsenal of Turkey’s intelligence agency and could be put to use for the first time in setting up a clandestine, military-style operation against Greece, reporter Abdullah Bozkurt claims.

According to the report, the plot includes several options, ranging from sabotage on Greek islands near the Turkish mainland to raising a Turkish flag on one or several uninhabited islets and rock formations. Potentially, there may also be a false flag operation to justify a Turkish response.

Turkey’s operation against Greece prior to presidential elections

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is still considering the alternatives submitted to him by his confidant, Hakan Fidan, the head of MIT, and has not yet determined which course of action to take, Bozkurt notes.

According to information obtained by Nordic Monitor from sources familiar with the plot, it will be up to this special unit created within the intelligence agency to carry out the operation in the Aegean Sea with logistical support from the Turkish military’s air and naval assets.

The plot, which is strictly confidential and kept at a need-to-know basis within Erdogan and Fidan’s close circle, will be put into motion sometime closer to the 2023 general election to increase support for Erdogan and bring on a windfall vote for his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its nationalist allies, the article in Nordic Monitor maintains.

Erdogan: We may suddenly come in the middle of the night

President Erdogan has been drumming up anti-Greek rhetoric recently and has warned Athens that “we may suddenly come in the middle of the night”—a threat repeated last week.

During the inaugural summit of the European Political Community in Prague on Thursday, Erdogan accused Athens of basing its policies on “lies.”

There is nothing worth discussing with Greece at the moment he said, as he warned that Turkey may retaliate against Greece’s violations.

Turkey’s President said Athens understood Ankara’s message when Turkish officials said “we may suddenly arrive one night,” a comment seen as a threat to a neighboring state.

“They are not where they are supposed to be,” Erdogan said during a news conference in Prague. “Their entire policy is based on lies, [and] they are not honest. We have nothing to discuss with Greece.”

Erdogan also said he expects the European Union “to call on Greece for dialogue on a bilateral basis instead of supporting illegal initiatives masquerading as unity or solidarity.”