Rhode Island State Senator Leonidas “Lou” Raptakis spoke to OPEN TV about the stance of the US and President Joe Biden on Turkey.
Raptakis stressed that all the elected Greek-Americans have been activated and pressure on Ankara will increase.
In fact, he hastened to stress that the “anxiety” of uncertainty is over as Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will no longer be able to pick up the phone whenever he wants to the White House as he did with Donald Trump.
“The back door of the White House is closed for Erdoğan. He must now come through the front door like all other leaders,” he said.
According to Raptakis, this is what Greece expects from the Biden presidency:
“Last year, despite Trump’s presidency, congress passed sanctions, we blocked the F-35s, we signed the agreement on the Eastern Mediterranean…
“There was anxiety, we saw Erdoğan picking up the phone, talking to Trump and we did not know what would happen to us here in the US and you there in Greece and in Cyprus.”
“Now this stress is over. We, the elected Greek-Americans, have a lot of work to do, six in Congress, 30 members in the Senate and 18 congressmen in states, we will emphasize this very much.
“Turkey may be a friend, an ally we say, but what it does everywhere, in Cyprus, in Syria, in the Armenians, everywhere in the Mediterranean, it will end.
“The back door of the White House is closed for Erdoğan. He must now come through the front door like all the other leaders.
“The American Congress will be very careful now on the issue that Turkey was not a serious ally to the NATO family and a neighbour of the European Union.”
