Greek National Defence Minister warns NATO Secretary on Turkey

Greek National Defence Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels.

According to Greek government sources, the Greek minister emphasized Greece's contribution to the war in Ukraine, and he also condemned any revisionism that destabilizes Europe, clearly inferencing Turkish threats and aggression.

Recently in New York for the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias had also met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

A month earlier US Senator Chris Van Hollen also accused Turkey of being an unfaithful ally in NATO and that is why it was removed from the F-35 fighter jet program.

Van Hollen made the comments earlier this month during an interview with Greek newspaper Kathimerini  where he also stressed that any sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, or any upgrade of its existing fleet, must be accompanied by clear conditions that they will not be used to violate Greece’s airspace.

When asked how he saw Turkish President Erdogan’s actions with respect to Greece (overflights, aggressive rhetoric) and Cyprus (violations of EEZ) the US Senator noted that "violations of Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone are destabilizing and the US and our NATO partners, as well as our new partners, need to work together to hold Turkey accountable. We saw a little less than a year ago her actions with respect to Varosha in clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions and all of this is on top of issues that are important not just to Greece and the US, but to all democracies, like the continued political repression of opposition parties like the Kurds."

Dendias tweeted that they discussed developments in the Eastern Mediterranean and Ukraine.