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Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced arms purchase agreements with France and a comprehensive army reform on Saturday amid tensions with Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean, at a time when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the French President Emmanuel Macron directly for the first time.
In a speech in the northern city of Thessaloniki, the Prime Minister said: “The time has come to strengthen the armed forces … These initiatives constitute a strong program that will become a national shield.”
Mitsotakis added that Greece will receive 18 French Rafale jets, four multi-role frigates and four helicopters, in addition to recruiting 15,000 soldiers and injecting funds into the national arms and defense industry against Siberian attacks.
The Prime Minister indicated that new anti-tank weapons, naval torpedoes and aerial missiles would be secured.
He said the government’s weapons program, which includes modernizing four other existing frigates, is also designed to create thousands of jobs.
A government source told AFP that more details about the cost of the program and arms purchases will be released on Sunday at a press conference.
Mitsotakis is believed to have created the program after his talks with Macron during the Corsica summit this week.
Erdogan warns Macron
The Turkish president warned his French counterpart on Saturday not to “play games” with Ankara in the face of escalating tension between the two NATO countries.
In a televised speech in Istanbul on the 40th anniversary of the military coup in 1980, Erdogan said: “Don’t mess with the Turkish people, don’t mess with Turkey.”
Macron has harshly criticized Ankara in its confrontation with Greece and Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean over the background of exploring energy resources.
Erdogan urged Greece to “stay away from wrong actions” supported by countries like France in disputed waters after naval maneuvers carried out by Athens and Ankara in the region last month in Paris strengthened its presence there.
Macron said on Thursday that Europeans should “be clear and firm, not with the Turkish people, but with the government of President Erdogan, which has taken unacceptable measures.”
The French president’s statements came during a summit of the “MED 7” group in the European Union, which hinted at the imposition of sanctions on Turkey for its movements.
The latest tension came after Turkey sent an exploration ship and warships into the disputed waters on August 10, and this mission was extended three times.
On Saturday, Erdogan accused his French counterpart of “lack of historical knowledge” and threatened him saying: “Mr. Macron, you will have other problems with me.”
This was Erdogan’s first comment directed directly at Macron.
The Turkish president said: “Mr. Macron, you will have more problems with me personally,” as quoted by the official Turkish news agency Anatolia.
He added that France “cannot teach Turkey a lesson in humanity,” and asked Macron to analyze France’s record, especially in Algeria, and its role in the 1994 massacres in Rwanda.
“You don’t have much time anymore,” Erdogan said, addressing Macron, referring to the French president entering the last two years of his term, noting that the next French presidential elections will be held in 2022.
Relations between Turkey and France have deteriorated in the eastern Mediterranean, but the two countries, which are members of NATO, differ in other respects, including the conflict in Syria and Libya.
The two countries previously exchanged strong criticism in the context of a meeting between French officials, in 2018, with several Syrian Kurdish leaders linked to an armed faction supported by the United States and considered by Turkey as a “terrorist.”
In Libya, the two countries are also on opposite sides, as Ankara supports the Government of National Accord, which is recognized by the United Nations, and that, in 2019, Field Marshal Haftar launched an attack to control its stronghold, Tripoli. .
On the other hand, France is believed to support Haftar, knowing that Paris insists on its neutrality in this conflict.
Erdogan accused France of interfering in Libya “for the sake of oil” and in Africa “for the sake of diamonds, gold and copper.”
The agreement coincided with a visit by the Secretary of State of the United States, Mike Pompeo, to Cyprus to request calm and to take the diplomatic dialogue as a way to preserve the “Atlantic unity”.
