ANKARA

Türkiye's ballistic missile test "scares" Athens, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday, asserting that Ankara will not sit idly if Greece continues to arm the Aegean islands.

"Now we have started to build our missiles. Of course, this production frightens the Greek. When you say ‘Tayfun’ (Typhoon), the Greek is scared. They (Greece) say it will hit Athens. Of course, it will hit.

"If you try to buy something (to arm) from here and there, from America to the islands, a country like Türkiye will not be a bystander. It has to do something," Erdogan said at an event in northern Samsun province.

In October, Türkiye test-fired domestically produced short-range ballistic missile Tayfun (Typhoon) over the Black Sea. The missile can hit a target at a distance of 561 kilometers (349 miles) in 456 seconds.

Türkiye, a NATO member for over 70 years, has complained of repeated provocative actions and rhetoric by Greece in the region in recent months, including arming islands near Turkish shores that are demilitarized under treaty obligations. It says that such moves frustrate its good faith efforts towards peace.

'US continues to back terror groups in northern Syria'

Turning to another NATO ally, Erdogan criticized the US for giving support and weapons to terrorist organizations in northern Syria.

"America is sending 4,000-5,000 trucks of weapons and ammunition to northern Syria. Even though I've told them this over and over, they don't care.

"We are with you in NATO. Although we are together, you are doing wrong to us and you are on the side of the terrorist organization ... we will pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps," he added.

Last month, Türkiye launched Operation Claw-Sword in northern areas of Iraq and Syria, a cross-border aerial campaign against the terror group PKK, which has hideouts across Iraqi and Syrian borders from where they plan and sometimes execute attacks on Turkish soil.

After the air operation was launched, Erdogan also signaled a ground operation into northern Iraq and northern Syria to eliminate the terror threat.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the European Union, and the US, and is responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the terrorist PKK's Syrian branch.