On his relationship with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar, he said that “it’s pretty good. We have the freedom to exchange messages with each other if necessary, for wherever necessary”
The second six Rafale fighter jets, out of a total of 24 that Greece has agreed to acquire, are in the process of being delivered. The first two have arrived, the other day a third arrived and another one is expected at the beginning of the year.
This was emphasized, among others, by the Minister of National Defense, Nikos Panagiotopoulos, in an interview with the TV station “Action 24”. He also underlined that six more Rafales are expected “in 2023 and another six next year”.
He described “the reinforcement of the Navy” as imperative, pointing out that the frigates “they are 40-year-old ships.” “In this context we have already agreed,” he continued, “to acquire three state-of-the-art frigates, the so-called “Belh@rra“. The first one is now being built for the Greek Navy in France.”
He stated that “there is an alternative for the acquisition of one more” while he added that “the final decision” remains to proceed “to modernize the four “MEKO” type frigates which are the relatively newest ships but are still 30 to 35 years old”.
For the corvettesN. Panagiotopoulos clarified that “the Navy is evaluating the final proposals of the two finalists, I would say, of this competition, the French and the Italians”.
“We want”, he added, “in this program there will be shipbuilding in a Greek shipyard. It won’t be the first ship for sure, it won’t be the first corvette. From the second one onwards, however, we will have the participation of the Greek shipyards, and I think this is very important. It is the resurrection in practice of the domestic shipbuilding industry.”
On the Turkish provocations, the Minister of National Defense emphasized “deterrence is a great matter and Greece has taken many steps to strengthen its deterrent footprint in recent years”.
“The Armed Forces are capable, they are capable, they know their job very well. Our job is to help the Armed Forces do their job,” he continued.
He focused on the “building of the country’s alliances at many levels, either in the form of multilateral schemes or in the form of bilateral contacts”, underlining that “it has yielded significant results, significant benefits recently”.
Reported on defense agreements with the US and France but also in the upgrading of infrastructure with characteristic examples of Souda and Alexandroupoli.
On his relationship with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar, he said that “it’s pretty good. We have the freedom to exchange messages with each other if needed, for wherever needed.”
“I think,” he said, “that if there is a room for understanding, Turkey should stop exhibiting this behavior.” “It is unacceptable for a NATO ally to threaten another with military action. This is something we cannot accept and neither do our NATO partners,” he continued.
“There is no doubt that if we accept that Turkey adopts a comprehensive revisionist stance, then the elections or rather the completion of the electoral situation in Turkey will not change things much. Revising means I initiate and claim things in the area. I want to change the status quo in the region. So I think that the overall strategy of Turkey, as long as it is governed by this spirit of revisionism, will not change”, emphasized the Minister of National Defense.
Regarding the possibility of granting the S-300 system to Ukraine, he clarified that “so far we have not received an official proposal” while adding that “of course the Ukrainians asked. I had the opportunity to hear it with my own ears – from President Zelensky himself – and to respond when about a month ago I accompanied the President of the Republic Mrs. Katerina Sakellaropoulou on her visit to Kyiv and we had talks with the Ukrainian side”.
“My answer was and still is, on behalf of the government, of course, the prime minister, firm and unchanging” he said and added: “Greece currently needs some weapon systems for specific reasons, because it faces a threat. So we will do nothing, we have no intention of doing the slightest thing that would bring any breach, any small gap in our defense arrangement against this threat.”
“In any case we will not do anything to weaken through this our defense arrangement for specific reasons” he said and continued: “No change in our defense arrangement. All these systems, wherever they come from, are there for specific reasons to serve specific needs. So we are and remain in this logic”.
Regarding the wiretapping case, the Minister of National Defense emphasized that “when every Sunday a list of even more is published, by a newspaper that is not famous for its objectivity, then this takes on the dimension of information that is not necessary to respond to the truth and to create political impressions”.
“It’s an unpleasant case, it would be good if it hadn’t happened, but from now on, I think the way it’s seen in the light of the public doesn’t convince me and I’m wary of being on another list in the near future,” said N. Panagiotopoulos.
Regarding the increase in the term of office, the Minister of National Defense clarified that “this conversation has not yet started” as an assessment is being made “of whether this targeted reduction of the term of office that we decided only last year has paid off” while regarding the increase in the fleet’s vessels, he said that it is a “proclamation of the prime minister and will be granted”.
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