Greece’s Air Force deleted a social media post featuring photos of its C-130 military transport aircraft on Nov. 13, after it drew swift backlash for appearing online less than two days after a Turkish C-130 crashed, killing 20 soldiers.
The original post on X, captioned “Photos of the Day!”, was removed within minutes as Turkish social media users accused Athens of insensitivity, calling the timing “immoral” and “incompatible with good-neighborly relations.”
In its place, the Hellenic Air Force shared a previously issued condolence message dated Nov. 12 from Lt. Gen. Dimosthenis Grigoriadis, head of Greece’s general staff. Grigoriadis wrote that he received news of the Nov. 11 crash on the Georgia-Azerbaijan border “with profound sadness,” adding that “no words could fully convey the scale of the loss.”
Greek Defense Ministry sources told Türkiye's state-run Anadolu Agency that the deleted post was unrelated to the crash and had been part of a routine sharing of photos from a ceremony. They said it was taken down to avoid further misunderstandings.
Turkish officials responded strongly. Ömer Çelik, spokesman for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), condemned what he called an “ugly message devoid of all human and military values directed at our martyrs,” and urged Greek authorities to take action against those responsible.
The cause of the Turkish crash remains under investigation, and officials have not yet announced a conclusion.
Türkiye and Greece, NATO allies with a long history of disputes, have sought to ease tensions after a December 2023 meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, where both sides pledged to usher in a “new chapter.”
Despite the recent thaw, the neighbors continue to face periodic friction over maritime boundaries, energy exploration and other longstanding disagreements.
