Amid Türkiye’s “well-intentioned approaches” to make the Aegean and Mediterranean a “sea of friendship,” the nation’s protection chief on Saturday known as on NATO to induce Greece to “stop” its “impertinence.”
“Despite of our well-intentioned approaches, Greece continues to provoke and escalate tensions and its unlawful attitude,” Hulusi Akar stated at National Defense Ministry’s year-end analysis assembly.
Asserting that Greece has harassed Turkish jets participating in NATO workouts twice within the final week, Akar stated: “This hostile attitude clearly shows that Greece has become so arrogant that it disregards the basic principles and values of NATO. It’s time for NATO to say ‘stop’ to this impertinence.”
Türkiye, a NATO member for over 70 years, has complained of repeated provocative actions and rhetoric by Greece within the area in current months, together with arming islands close to Turkish shores which are demilitarized beneath treaty obligations. It says that such strikes frustrate its good religion efforts for peace.
On Sweden and Finland’s NATO accession bids, Akar reiterated Türkiye’s expectation from the 2 Nordic international locations “to fulfill the commitments they signed in Madrid, in which is to cut their support to terrorists and to remove the restrictions they have imposed against Türkiye on the extradition list.”
“It’s that simple,” he stated.
The nationwide protection minister additionally commented on the potential US sale of F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye, saying that as Ankara works to “improve the approach of our US counterparts,” it additionally expects a “positive and concrete” conclusion to the sale and modernization of plane from Washington.
Ankara requested F-16s and modernization kits in October 2021. The $6 billion deal would come with the sale of 40 jets, in addition to modernization kits for 79 warplanes that the Turkish Air Force already has in its stock.
