The ink has barely dried on the letter approving the sale of F-16s by the US to Turkey, and the country's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, appears to have reverted to his "old self" by making inflammatory statements against Greece.
As SKAI's correspondent in Istanbul, Manolis Kostidis reports that during his speech about the candidate mayors of Izmir, Erdogan referred, among other things, to historical issues concerning the neighbouring country.
"Our struggle did not end with the expulsion of the enemy from our lands and throwing them into the sea in Smyrna 100 years ago," he said, adding that the regions of Marmara and the Aegean, including Smyrna, are the lands where "the first seeds were planted, the first foundations laid, and the first steps taken of our millennia-old existence."
These statements can be interpreted not only as expressing his satisfaction with the US approval of the sale but also as a response to criticism from the Turkish opposition, which claims that the country receives less from the US compared to Greece, considering the F-35s are more advanced fighter aircraft than the F-16s.
It's worth noting that Turkey was a co-producer of the F-35 and had joined the relevant program about 15 years ago. Today, according to the opposition's emphasis, it would have had at least 30 aircraft if it had remained in the program.
However, Turkey's satisfaction extends beyond acquiring 40 F-16s and modernizing the other 79, as the country's air force had pressing needs for spare parts. President Erdogan indicated yesterday that the US and Canada would release many spare parts for the maintenance and repairs required by the F-16s.
