Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited the White House and Congress in mid-May to make Greece’s case for acquiring fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II stealth jets while simultaneously urging the U.S. government against selling Turkey additional modernized F-16s and upgrading its fleet. If Ankara is denied this upgrade, the Hellenic Air Force (HAF) could become technologically superior to its Turkish rival by the end of the decade.
“We will launch the process for the acquisition of a squadron of F-35 aircraft, and we do hope to be able to add this fantastic plane to the Greek Air Force before the end of this decade,” Mitsotakis said at the White House.
The following day, May 17, in an address to Congress, Mitsotakis was clearly referring to the proposed F-16 deal with Turkey when he said, “The last thing that NATO needs at a time when our focus is helping defeat Russian aggression is another source of instability on NATO’s southeastern flank. And I ask you to take this into account when you make defense procurement decisions concerning the eastern Mediterranean.”
The real reason Turkey will never voluntarily leave NATO – Analysis
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacted furiously.
“We had agreed to not include third countries in our dispute with him,” Erdogan said on May 23. “Despite this, last week, he had a visit to the U.S. and talked at the Congress and warned them not to give F-16s to us.”
Read more: Forbes
