Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), stated in comments published on Saturday that forming alliances outside of NATO will harm the organization. Akar's remarks followed the defense agreement reached between Greece and France last month. Greece and France, both NATO members, signed a military and defense strategic cooperation agreement in September that includes a request to purchase three French frigates valued at around 3 billion euros. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated this month that the agreement will allow the two countries to assist each other in the event of an external threat.
After a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels last week, the Turkish defense minister told reporters, "In light of our presence within NATO, everyone should know that seeking different alliances outside of it will damage NATO and our bilateral relations, and undermine trust." The Turkish Ministry of Defense published Akar's statement.
There is a dispute between Greece and Turkey regarding continental shelves and maritime boundaries, while both countries resumed preliminary communications regarding their disagreements earlier this year. Akar mentioned that he held a constructive meeting with his Greek counterpart, stating, "We had positive and constructive discussions with the Greek defense minister. We expect to see positive results from these discussions in the upcoming period."
Additionally, Akar indicated that "technical work has begun" for obtaining F-16 Viper aircraft from the United States, as well as upgrading Turkey's existing warplanes. Last week, the United States did not confirm President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's statement that Washington had made an offer to Ankara to sell F-16 fighters, but added that it had not provided Turkey with an offer to finance the warplanes. Erdoğan previously stated that the United States proposed selling F-16 fighters to Turkey in exchange for its investment in the F-35 program, from which Ankara was excluded after purchasing missile defense systems from Russia.
