The NATO Summit opens with two very different priorities.

For Turkey, attention is focused on Donald Trump’s renewed relationship with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and whether it can keep alive Ankara’s hopes of rejoining the F-35 fighter jet program.

For Greece, the objective is different: to capitalize on its position as one of the few NATO members that has already met the Alliance’s new defense spending targets and to reinforce its image as a reliable ally that delivers on its commitments rather than merely making promises.

The Obstacles

However, the picture presented by U.S. media is considerably more complex.

Reuters reports that while there is clear political willingness within the White House to rebuild ties with Turkey, the F-35 issue is an entirely separate matter. Approval for supplying engines for Turkey’s indigenous KAAN fighter project is viewed as a lower-cost political gesture, but not as a sign that Ankara is about to rejoin the fifth-generation fighter program.

The main reasons remain unchanged.

The sanctions imposed after Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system are still in force, while a strong bipartisan coalition in Congress continues to oppose any change to the existing framework.

In other words, even if Donald Trump wishes to improve relations with Turkey, Ankara’s return to the F-35 program still faces institutional and political hurdles that the White House cannot bypass unilaterally.

The debate has become even more complicated following public comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who urged the U.S. president not to approve the sale of F-35s to Turkey, arguing that such a move would alter the security balance in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East.

His intervention underscores that the issue has expanded beyond U.S.-Turkey relations and now carries broader geopolitical implications.

Greece’s Strategy

Athens is closely monitoring these developments while avoiding both the optimism being expressed in Turkey and the speculation surrounding the summit.

Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis outlined Greece’s position while addressing Parliament.

He stressed that there has been no official change to the U.S. legal and institutional framework governing the F-35 issue and that the congressional restrictions remain fully in force.

He also emphasized that Greece does not shape its defense policy based on the decisions of other countries, but according to its own long-term strategic planning, noting that Greece has already secured its participation in the F-35 program and is implementing a comprehensive modernization plan for its Armed Forces.

This position reflects the government’s broader strategy ahead of the summit.

While Turkey is attempting to keep political negotiations over its F-35 future alive, Greece is focusing on concrete achievements—not only its admission to the F-35 program but also its overall standing as one of NATO’s most dependable members already meeting the Alliance’s new commitments.

Greece’s Main Asset

This is the principal advantage Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis brings to the summit.

According to government figures, Greece is already among the top five NATO member states to have reached the Alliance’s new benchmark of allocating 3.5% of GDP to core defense spending, with military expenditures currently standing at 3.6% of GDP.

At the same time, the country is implementing a 12-year, €25 billion Armed Forces modernization program, which forms the foundation of Greece’s updated defense strategy.

The Crucial Meeting

These achievements carry particular weight because one of the summit’s central topics will be implementing the Hague agreement, under which NATO members aim to spend 5% of GDP on defense by 2035:

• 3.5% on core military expenditures.
• 1.5% on investments in critical infrastructure, resilience, and the defense industry.

The Greek government believes it enters these discussions from a stronger position than many other European countries, having already completed much of the progress that others are only now beginning to pursue.

Officials in Athens argue that this strengthens Greece’s standing at a time when the fairer sharing of defense burdens has become a central issue in transatlantic relations.

Prime Minister Mitsotakis is expected to reiterate Greece’s position that a stronger European defense capability should complement—not compete with—the United States, thereby strengthening NATO as a whole.

He is also expected to call for further development of Europe’s defense industry and the creation of new financial instruments to support future defense investments.