It is common knowledge that Erdogan has made a 180-degree turn in his country's foreign policy towards Greece, which he has stopped threatening to occupy its islands in the Aegean Sea and has proceeded to sign a "Declaration of Friendship and Good Neighborliness" with Greece.
"Stalemate" Greek-Turkish rapprochement by Erdogan over the acquisition of F-16 BLOCK-70 F-16s from the US
However, the Greek-Turkish rapprochement has not touched the hard core of Ankara's claims against us, for which Erdogan has not taken a step back.
At the same time, however, the Turkish President is benefiting from the rapprochement with our country, since he has gained a serious argument against the US Congress in his attempt to get the F-16 BLOCK-70s, claiming that since I am getting along with Greece, with which I signed a "Declaration of Friendship and Good Neighborliness", I do not threaten it and therefore I do not intend to use these fighters against it.
In a recent telephone conversation between Erdogan and Baiden after the rapprochement with Athens, according to the Turkish President, that assurances were given by his interlocutor that if the Turkish parliament ratifies Sweden's membership in NATO,at the same time the sale of F-16 BLOCK-70 F-16s to Turkey will be approved by the US Congress.
On December 26, the Turkish Parliament will debate the acceptance of Sweden's NATO membership.
Therefore, we are not at all surprised that, according to a Turkish media report, "the Turkish parliament's foreign affairs committee is expected to resume discussions on Sweden's NATO membership on December 26, according to a statement posted on the parliament's website on Friday," it said:
"The parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee had begun discussing Sweden's NATO membership on November 16, but further postponed the debate without setting a specific date.
Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO in May last year in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Sweden believes it has done all it can to address Turkey's concerns, but its case for NATO membership is now in the hands of Turkish MPs.
The bill must be approved by the parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee before it can be voted on by the full General Assembly. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will then sign it into law.
Although he said Ankara expected more from Sweden to fight the PKK terror group, Erdogan said he would try to facilitate the ratification as much as possible."
Sweden and Finland abandoned decades of military disengagement and sought the protection provided by U.S.-led NATO in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year.
Their offers won rapid approval from all NATO members except Turkey and Hungary. The two eventually backed down and accepted Finland into the bloc this year.
Turkey and Hungary are the latest of 31 North Atlantic Treaty Organisation members to block Stockholm's entry.
Greek air superiority and Erdogan's "big roll" to overthrow it
At the present stage Greece dominates the air against Turkey, after the acquisition of the French RAFALE fighters and the ongoing modernization of the F-16 to VIPER, while it is known that in 2028 it will acquire 5th generation F-35 fighters from the US.
On the flip side, the Turkish Air Force is aging and has so far not acquired any modern fighter aircraft such as the F-16 BLOCK-70 or EUROFIGHTER as an interim solution for the coming years, as the indigenous Turkish 5th generation KAAN fighter is expected to enter service in 2030
The above means that unless a change is made, Greek air dominance in the Aegean and SE Mediterranean will exist until at least 2030.
So Erdogan has decided to roll his "Big Dice" on the US and UK, seeking to acquire both 40 F-16 BLOCK -70 F-16s from the US and 40 Eurofighters at the same time.
Such a development would result in the reversal of the Aegean-Eastern Mediterranean air balance in favour of Turkey from 2026 onwards, while it would mortgage British support for the resolution of the Cyprus problem a la Turkey.
In closing, we note that we as a Greek state and expatriate community should focus our attention on the moves of the Biden administration and the US Congress over the next three days.
