The Biden administration and NATO have betrayed Greece by striking a deal with Turkey. Turkey has formally lifted its veto and will permit Sweden and Finland to join the alliance. It appears that the Kurdish exiles who are politically active in those countries will face a crackdown and serious restriction in their activities against Turkey.
The Kurds have been totally betrayed. In fairness, it was the Trump administration that betrayed the Syrian Kurds when it permitted Turkey to invade Syria. As of this writing, it is unclear if the Biden administration will sell F-16 fighter jets to Turkey. I expect they will sell the jets to Turkey.
This is a disastrous failure for Prime Minister Mitsotakis and Foreign Minister Dendias. Mitsotakis has stupidly embraced the anti Russian rhetoric and hatred of NATO. Even as NATO refuses to call Turkey to order in its aggression against Greece, Mitsotakis is calling for all NATO countries to impose sanctions on Russia.
This is disappointing coming from Mitsotakis. Mitsotakis has previously stood up to Turkey (successfully) but has placed Greek foreign policy back in American and NATO hands. The Greek American community is just as bad having foolishly backed the Democrats who have never done anything for Greece.
It remains to be seen what will happen but things are not turning out well for Greece and Cyprus.
2 replies on “Biden Embraces Erdogan”
Sale of any advanced weapons to Turkey still has to be approved by the Congress and in specifics by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which New Hampshire Senator Robert Menendez chairs. Biden can’t Approve it, he can only request it to be Approved. Menendez is a big supporter of Greece and Cyprus, he relies heavily on Greek American voter support.
The bottom line is sale of F-16 fighters to Turkey will not be approved without agreement by Greek PM Mitsotakis. This is an election year and the Dems are in deep political trouble, angering a loyal constituency before November isn’t going to happen. While it’s possible F-16’s might eventually be sold to Turkey, it would only be conducted with set-asides for Greece. For example, Greece would likely be favored with attractive terms for buying F-35 fighters (much superior to the 45 year old F-16) or updated Patiot Missile systems.
Rather than trying to block this sale to Turkey, Mitsotakis would be advised to use the Greek American leverage to secure better weapon systems for Greece. When the USA sold Egypt F-16 fighters back in the 1980’s, the Israelis didn’t block the deal-but they used the Zionist voter leverage to secure better transactions for Israel (including F-15 fighters which were much superior to F-16).
Erdogan has apparently been PUNKED by Sweden and Finland: https://youtu.be/4e5btPwTpXg