From Military, Hybrid Threats to Cybersecurity, Greece Pursues Multi-level National Security Structure
Publish Date: 2026-02-26 01:11:00
Source Domain: www.tovima.com
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has faced multiple intense national security challenges during his over six years in office-most prominently a major operation to fend off a huge flood of migrants when in a hybrid attack Turkey opened its side of the Evros Greek-Turkish border in February, 2020, and later the naval crisis in the Mediterranean in August of that year, when Ankara’s sending the seismic exploration ship Oruc Reis into Greece’s EEZ led to a near clash of Greek and Turkish frigates, which if not defused might have led to dire, unforeseen consequences.
These were two significant crisis management successes which demonstrated that Greece is light years away from the Imia islets crisis, which occurred exactly 30 years ago, in January, 1996, and brought Greece and Turkey to the brink of war.
Turkish seismic research vessel Oruc Reis is escorted by Turkish Navy ships as it sets sail in the Mediterranean Sea, off Antalya, Turkey, August 10, 2020. Picture taken August 10, 2020. Turkish Defence Ministry/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE.
The highly dangerous lack of coordination and communication between the PM’s office, the ministries of defence and of foreign affairs, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will remain in Greek military annals as a prominent case study in how a lack of planning and coordination can have disastrous effects. Back then, a potential war between two NATO allies was averted through the intervention of then US President Bill Clinton, and the masterful diplomacy of his envoy, the late Richard Holbrooke.
The lessons were learned.
Today, the waters separating Greece and Turkey are calm, despite lingering disputes, which the two countries – as Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared on 11 February, in Ankara – are determined to and have agreed to resolve on their own, through peaceful dialogue based on international…
