The Greek Defense Minister stressed that his country must prepare its armed forces for the eventuality of “destabilization” after the end of the last mandate of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Minister Nikos Dendias said in an interview with the Kathimerini newspaper: “What will happen to Turkey when Erdogan leaves? We don’t know. Turkey is not a stable country.”
“Stability is always destabilized during the succession of a strong, long-serving leader… This means we need to prepare for any eventuality before 2030.”
The minister said: “In general, there is no room for complacency in our region. There are several sources of destabilization around us that require our armed forces to be modern.”
After years of tensions over migration, energy rights and maritime borders in the Aegean Sea, Turkey and Greece resumed high-level talks last month following Erdogan’s first visit to Athens since 2017.
Greece’s defense budget as a percentage of the country’s GDP is the highest compared to the rest of the NATO countries. Athens has placed orders worth billions of euros to buy American F-35 fighters, Rafale planes and French Plara frigates.
But Dendias pointed out a “decades-old flaw” in the Greek aviation industry, namely that the air force does not have transport planes.
He added that Athens will henceforth allocate part of its defense budget “exclusively” to Greek-made weapons for the armed forces.
The minister regretted that “units operating at 25-30% of their capabilities are scattered across the country”, calling for increasing the effectiveness of the Greek Armed Forces.
2024-01-15 03:09:51
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