Turkish President expresses concern to Macron over French arms sales to Greece; secures nothing from Biden

Turkish President Reccep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed concern over French arms sales to Greece during a brief meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

“”We expressed our concern about the sale of weapons in Greece. We spoke openly, with a broad agenda,” Erdogan said.

Erdoğan referred to his meeting with the French President during a press conference on the sidelines of the G20 in Rome where he also managed to secure a brief meeting with US President Joe Biden.

“With the US President we discussed the modernisation of our F-16s and maybe about the purchase of new ones.” Erdogan said. However, as he added, no reference was made to the eastern Mediterranean.

As for his conversation with the French President Emmanuel Macron, Erdoğan stressed that he discussed Libya and the international conference that Paris is preparing to organise on November 12, the situation in Afghanistan and Syria.

The Turkish President also stressed that he had bilateral meetings with other leaders including the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, the Italian Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Referring to his bilateral meeting with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, the Turkish President said that he believed “we can do important things. Especially in terms of the defence industry and the increase in trade between our two countries.”