Greece communicates armament purchases in the heat of tension with Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean
The Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, announced new agreements to purchase weapons and also the expansion of the Greek armed forces amidst the diplomatic confrontation in the eastern Mediterranean over the clash with Turkey over the hydrocarbon prospecting carried out by the Eurasian country in the Mediterranean area.
In a public address in the city of Thessaloniki, in the north of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that "it is time to strengthen the armed forces" through initiatives that constitute a "strong programme that will become a national shield".
In this connection, the Greek head of government pointed out that his country will be receiving 18 French Rafale fighter-bombers (it should be stressed here that France has opposed Turkish expansionism in Mediterranean waters head-on), four multi-mission frigates and four helicopters. He also stated that up to 15,000 new troops will be enlisted in the national army and that the funds earmarked to the arms and national defence industry will be increased. "The time has come to strengthen the Armed Forces. This initiative is a robust programme that will become a national shield," explained the Prime Minister in the city of Thessaloniki.
The programme, which includes the improvement of four existing frigates, will generate thousands of jobs, according to Mitsotakis, who also said that Turkey "threatens" Europe's eastern border and "undermines" regional security.
The current scenario has been set up following the intense Ottoman presence in Mediterranean waters in search of oil and gas resources through prospecting considered illegal by countries such as Greece and Cyprus and by the European Union (EU), which has threatened the Turkish nation presided over by Recep Tayyip Erdogan with sanctions.
In August Turkey sent the ship Oruç Reis to carry out seismic prospecting work and a naval force, with the mission of carrying out hydrocarbon explorations in waters that Greece considers to be within its maritime borders.
The Greek country responded by guarding the Turkish fleet with its own warships and conducted joint naval exercises with several EU allies as a deterrent. However, it should be stressed that Turkey announced in the last hours the withdrawal of the prospecting ship from its activity and its return to Antalya. This decision may have served to defuse the current escalation of tension.
The situation became very festering in the last months; Especially after the agreement that was made at the end of last year between the Turkish leader Erdogan and Fayez Sarraj, the Prime Minister of the National Accord Government of Libya, which ensured the Turkish military support to the government in Tripoli, in the context of the civil war that is being waged against the Libyan National Army led by Khalifa Haftar (even with the inclusion of mercenaries from Syria allegedly attached to groups linked to Jihadist terrorist entities such as Daesh or al-Qaeda that are now part of Sarraj's related militias, as reported by various media); and which also distributed exclusive economic zones in the eastern Mediterranean rich in oil and gas, which were seen as a violation of the Greek islands' own maritime space.