Greece's honorary chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, Konstantinos Floros, issued a pointed warning to...

Greece's honorary chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, Konstantinos Floros, issued a pointed warning to Turkey on Wednesday, saying Greece is fully prepared to respond militarily if necessary, just as it did in 2020. Floros spoke on ANT1's main evening newscast on October 29, 2026, the same day Greeks mark Oxi Day. Speaking about Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis's recent intervention at the UN over the Turkey-Libya maritime memorandum, Floros said Mitsotakis had a very good presence and used the platform to make Greece's positions heard clearly, that national rights must be defended. He described Turkey under Erdogan as a permanent factor of destabilisation in the region, one that continues to assert positions it has long held over the Eastern Mediterranean. On the question of what Greece would do if pushed, Floros was direct. Turkey will do its job as it understands it, he said, and Greece will do its own, on the basis of international law, and if needed with a presence on the ground, as it demonstrated in 2020. Floros also addressed the Greece-Cyprus electricity interconnection project, which has become a separate flashpoint with Ankara. The French research vessel Abeille Marengo is already docked in Heraklion, waiting to begin cable surveys. A Greek NAVTEX authorising the work is expected in early November or shortly after. Turkey has already issued its own NAVTEX through a station in the Attaleia region, though Floros noted that station holds jurisdiction only over Turkish territorial waters. Turkey has also requested written notification of the surveys, to be handled through the French side. The 2020 reference points to the Oruc Reis standoff, when Greece deployed naval assets in response to Turkish survey operations in disputed waters, a moment widely seen in Athens as a demonstration that Greece will not back down under pressure. #Greece #Turkey #EasternMediterranean