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Cavusoglu left empty-handed from the meeting with US Foreign Minister Blinken regarding the purchase of new F-16s

The Turkish foreign minister left empty-handed Mevlut Cavusoglu from the meeting he had with his American counterpart Anthony Blinken regarding the upgrade of Ankara’s F-16 fighter jets and the procurement of new ones. The two sides may have discussed the further strengthening of defense cooperation between the two countries, including the upgrading of military aircrafthowever the conditions set by Washington disturbed Mr. Cavusoglu who deemed it appropriate to consider Greece as the main responsible for this attitude.

What the Biden administration clarified is that the Turkey it is not going to get new F-16s if he does not previously lift the veto he has placed on the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO. At the same time, however, he declares that even if something like this happens, Athens will normally receive the new state-of-the-art F-35 fighters. Even so, influential members of Congress, such as Philhellene head of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Bob Menendez, oppose the prospect of selling F-16s to Turkey if they are used for violations of the national Aegean airspace.

Mr. Cavusoglu even took issue with the Democrat Mr. Menendez in the statements that followed after the meeting with Mr. Blinken, saying regarding the sale of F-16s to Turkey that “now only Menendez’s voice is heard but maybe they will also be heard other voices. If the United States administration shows resolve, the issue will be resolved».

“No one can tie Ankara by the handcuffs”

At the same time he urged him White House not to put the blame on Congress or elsewhere, adding that no one can bind Ankara by hand. “They will not make Turkey do whatever they want to sell them the F-16s” were his words, while rejecting the association of the F-16 issue with Finland and Sweden joining NATO. “Everyone says that accelerating the process of joining Finland and Sweden to NATO will have a positive impact on Congress on the F-16 issue, even though these issues have nothing to do with each other. We say that these two issues should not be connected to each other”, he noted.

Immediately after, he turned against our country: “We told them (s.s. to the Americans) how every support they give to Greece means the continuation of Greece’s provocative policy and we gave examples of Greece’s provocations, such as locking on the radars of our fighters that were flying in the framework of the NATO action with the S-300″ (s.b. something that Athens has denied, saying that the S-300 missile system was not used for such a thing) .

Mr. Cavusoglu also told the media that “we told the USA that the balance in Turkey-Greece relations has been turned upside down (s.s. in favor of Greece). It wasn’t the first time we said that today. They lifted the sanctions against the Greek Cypriot administration. Against whom is this decision directed? Against Turkey. We see that the balance between Turkey and Greece has changed in practice. I’m not just referring to the purchase process F-16. Greece is sending US-supplied weapons to the demilitarized islands and we have not seen any statement from the US on this matter. We are telling the US that this balance must be restored.”

Diplomatic imgs in Athens: Accusations from Turkey that go beyond logic

Athens responded directly through diplomatic imgs saying that “the recent reports of Turkish officials about the demilitarization of Greek islands are a repetition of the Turkish objections which Greece has repeatedly rejected in their entirety with a series of documented arguments, which are also contained in the relevant letters, which have been sent to the UN Secretary General. The alleged accusations of “Greek provocative actions”, which are launched by a country that systematically openly uses the threat of war, questions the sovereignty and sovereign rights of Greece, concludes non-existent and illegal memorandums ignoring the International Law and the Law of the Sea and daily violates the national airspace and Greek territorial waters. These categories go beyond any limit of logic and they do not convince the international community”.

Source: News Beast

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