ΑΝΚΑRA – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stepping up his belligerence, said that Greece will pay the price for allegedly putting armored vehicles on Aegean islands near his coast, even suggesting an attack.

Turkey has demanded that Greece also take troops off five islands, citing the terms of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne that he doesn’t recognize unless citing to his advantage as he becomes more bellicose.

Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting, Erdogan accused Greece of engaging in acts of provocation against Turkey and said that, “We will not fail to defend our country’s rights and interests against Greece by using all the means at our disposal, when necessary.”

“The foreign military build-up in Greece, which looks like an occupation, does not bother us but rather it should bother the Greek people,” the state-run ERT TV said, as he referred to Greece building alliances and building an arsenal.

He went into history to back up his assertions that Greece will be punished for causing troubles, not mentioning that Turkey has been violating Greek airspace with F-16 fighter jets repeatedly.

“The mass massacres committed by Greece cannot be forgotten, and sooner or later it will pay the price for its provocations. We will not hesitate, if necessary, to defend our country’s rights and interests against Greece by all available means,” he added.

That comes after he said that Turkey is ready to “suddenly come one night,” leading Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to fire back at him to “come during the day,” as they have stepped up a growing war of words.