Greece and Turkey are two of NATO’s oldest members, joining together in 1952, but their relationship and the tensions between them predate the alliance, and membership has done little to ease their disputes.

In recent years, ties between Athens and Ankara have deteriorated to the point that some believe a war could break out between them.

The countries occupy strategically important territory in southeastern Europe, and they field two of NATO’s biggest militaries, making the stakes of a potential clash much higher.

Due to persistent tensions with Turkey, Greece has been one of the few NATO members to maintain defense expenditures above the alliance’s 2%-of-GDP goal. Greece’s defense spending in 2022 was the highest in the alliance as a share of GDP.

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Although much of Greece’s defense spending has traditionally gone to personnel costs, significant equipment purchases under its current administration, which took office in July 2019, have also made it one of the alliance’s biggest spenders on hardware. (NATO also calls for 20% of members’ defense spending to go toward equipment purchases and upgrades.)

Greece is placing a strong emphasis on its air force and naval fleet in particular.

Read more: Business Insider