Spare us the drama, please, Estonia. Three Russian MiG-31s skim your Gulf of Finland airspace for 12 minutes on September 19, 2025 and Tallinn goes berserk. Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna summons diplomats, Prime Minister Kristen Michal screams “provocation” on X. NATO jets scramble, Ursula enters Top Gun mode. Four violations so far this year – scandalous!
Meanwhile, Greece weathers thousands of Turkish incursions yearly. Europe roars over a Russian phantom but wines and dines Ankara’s nouveau Sultan, the real aggressor. This double standard is not just laughable. It is infuriating.
Turkey’s violations are relentless, Estonia. Just so that you get a clue of what we are talking about, in 2022, the Hellenic National Defence General Staff logged 11,000+ breaches. One single day saw 78 violations and eight dogfights. In 2019, incidents hit a 30-year high. During 2024, hundreds of UAV and patrol plane incursions targeted Crete. Armed F-16s pierced Rhodes’ skies only a few days ago.
These are no joyrides, by the way. They kill. In 2006, a Greek F-16 actually collided with a Turkish one near Karpathos, killing Captain Thanos Iliakis. In 2018, a Mirage 2000-5 crashed near Skyros, claiming Georgios Baltadoros. In 2023, an F4 went down, killing Efstathios Tsitlakidis and Marios Touroutsikas. The number of Greek pilots dead since 2000 amounts to 23. Your total air force KIA throughout history, Estonia, is zero.
The cost is literally sky-high too. Each scramble burns €50,000 to €100,000, according to the Hellenic Air Force (HAF). In 2022, that made €550 million to €1.1 billion. During the last decade alone, €5 to €10 billion have been drained from Greece’s economy. This is what you get (and what you need to give) when facing a real threat on a daily basis.
Of course, Prime Minister Mitsotakis, ever Brussels’ anti-Russian pet student, may too parrot Tallinn’s and Ursula’s cries, but Greeks laugh bitterly. For they know that, while Europe ignores our skies and demonises a hypothetical Russian threat, Turkey exploits Greece’s fragility, pushing its neo-Ottoman revisionist agenda.
You see, Estonia, Greeks would immensely appreciate it if you and Brussels understood that, for instance, while you are fussing about an imaginary invasion of EU territory, a real one is actually there. Turkey’s invasion has seized 37 per cent of an EU member state’s land. UN rulings call it illegal, yet Erdogan’s “peace operation” in Cyprus persists, recently doubling its occupation force.
Does anyone care? No. Brussels mutters diplomatic cliches and consistently strikes deals with Ankara, repeatedly hosting Erdogan and inviting him into the European defence mechanisms. Europe’s hypocrisy is sad. Estonia’s four violations spark von der Leyen’s X post demanding “action” on Moscow. What about Turkey’s thousands? The question is yet again a rhetorical one.
And one last thing, Estonia. Your territorial waters extend up to 12 nautical miles from the coastline, as any state is entitled to according to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Greece’s are limited to six. You know why? Because the Turkish parliament has passed a resolution, which states that if Greece extends its territorial sea to 12 miles, there will be war. We have never seen you fume about it.
So, yes, Europe may like to go all gung-ho over a couple of jets and a few drones in the Baltic sea, Poland or Romania, but when it comes to the real and deadly Aegean inferno, little is the sympathy.
Will you stand by our side, Estonia and dear European friends, if we decide to exercise our rights and end-up in a bloody war with Turkey? Will you send commandos to defend our elderly, women and children on remote Aegean islands? Will you hold the line alongside our conscripts in Thrace? No, we didn’t think so. So give us a break, will you?
Men at war, praise them all: strong backs, high skills, comradeship, courage