The Greek government is closely following the discussion over Turkey’s stance toward Sweden’s NATO membership as it suspects that Ankara’s request to Washington to upgrade its F-16 fighter jet fleet may be part of the “bazaar”.
Lifting Turkey’s veto on Sweden’s NATO membership will be at the heart of the North Atlantic Alliance’s summit in Vilnius this week.
During a phone conversation between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his American counterpart on Sunday, the first reportedly said Stockholm had taken steps in the right direction for Ankara to ratify its candidacy, citing an anti-terror law passed by Sweden.
However, he added that the measures were not helpful as Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) supporters continued to hold demonstrations in Sweden.
According to Turkey, the two leaders agreed to meet in Vilnius on the sidelines of the NATO summit and discuss Turkey-US bilateral relations and “regional issues”.
In these regional issues, Athens fears that Turkey wants to highlight its long-standing request to the US to upgrade its F-16 fighter jet fleet.
“Turkey is looking for modernisation of F-16 aircraft. And [Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos] Mitsotakis in Greece is also looking for some help,” Biden told CNN in an interview.
“And so, what I’m trying to, quite frankly, put together is a little bit of a consortium here, where we’re strengthening NATO in terms of the military capacity of Greece and Turkey and allow Sweden to come in. But it’s in play. It’s not done.”
In Athens, Biden’s statement was interpreted as Turkey’s F-16 request as part of the broader “bazaar” to accept Sweden in NATO.
Particularly, Greece seeks guarantees that these F-16 jets will not be used against Athens as part of an ongoing maritime waters dispute in the Aegean Sea, with daily overflights above islands questioning Greek sovereignty.
Six US lawmakers sent a letter to American Secretary of State Antony Blinken asking for a monitoring mechanism to ensure that Turkey does not use the new F-16 fighters to violate Greek sovereignty in the Aegean.
They noted that if an agreement to sell F-16s and modernisation kits to Turkey is being considered, “we strongly urge that any final agreement include mechanisms to stop, delay or withdraw the transfer of such weapons if Turkey engages in actions that threaten or undermine U.S. national security interests and the unity of the NATO alliance”, the letter reads.
Erdoğan and Mitsotakis will meet on the sidelines of the NATO summit in what both sides see as a “window of opportunity” to reset their bilateral relations, especially after both leaders triumphed in recent elections.
According to Greek government sources, the positive momentum following the devastating earthquakes – where Greek showed solidarity – and the re-election of two new governments with a fresh popular mandate “opens a window of opportunity for restarting Greek-Turkish relations”.
Analysts suggest that the opposition in both countries has collapsed after the elections, giving enough room for Athens and Ankara to discuss untouchable topics.
A post on Facebook last week by former FM Nikos Kotzias attracted local media attention, as he said, “The New Democracy government is preparing major retreats on national matters”.
(Sarantis Michalopoulos | EURACTIV.com)
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