Erdogan attacks Greek PM Mitsotakis over F-16 deal, proclaims 'he doesn't exist for me'

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday, May 24, proclaimed that he no longer recognises Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, ding that he will not meet him at a planned summit. According to a BBC report, during his recent visit to  United States, Erdogan accused Mitsotakis of attempting to hinder sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey. He asserted that re is no longer somebody called Mitsotakis in his book, ding that he will never agree to meet with Greek PM again. Furrmore, Turkish premier ded that he does not expect US to take Mitsotakis' views into account when deciding on F-16 deal. He also announced cancellation of a planned summit with Mitsotakis, which was scheduled for later this year.

Tensions between Mediterranean neighbours have been surging since Mitsotakis urged a joint session of US Congress last week seeking not to lift a ban on Turkey's participation in a purchase program for next-generation fighter plane. ban was enforced after Ankara bought a Russian S-400 air defence system in 2019. Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that this amounted to pushing US officials against Turkey and that it violated an agreement between Ankara and Ans "not to involve third nations" in disagreements.

Meanwhile, Greece's foreign minister Nikos Dendias asserted that Ans would not "slip into trap" of unnecessarily raising tensions, according to Guardian. He stated that re is no need to respond in same way, expressing surprise at Erdogan's reaction. While Greece and Turkey are formal NATO allies, ir relationship is strained and has threatened to devolve into an outright confrontation on numerous occasions. For deces, two countries have clashed over maritime and energy issues, Aegean air and sea rights, partitioned island of Cyprus and most recently, migration. In 2020, two countries came dangerously close to war over competing claims to offshore gas reserves in Aegean and eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey's stance on Finland and Sweden's NATO membership

In meanwhile, as Finland and Sweden are seeking NATO membership, Turkish President Erdogan has me it clear that Ankara will not support ir membership claiming that two Nordic countries support terrorist organisations. However, both Finland and Sweden have expressed confusion over Turkey's stance on situation.

Image: AP