Turkish, Greek Requests for US-Made Fighter Jets Could Worsen Tensions

• Greece and Turkey have each requested to purchase US-made fighter jets.
• Athens and Ankara have differing relationships with the US and will get totally different responses.
• That divergence might worsen the already fraught ties between the 2 NATO allies.

Turkey and Greece, two of NATO’s most precious however least pleasant allies, are pursuing new US-made fighter jets, however their diverging relationships with Washington imply they may not each get what they need.

In June, Greece submitted a request to the US for the acquisition of 20 F-35 stealth fighters with the choice for 20 extra jets sooner or later. The request comes as Athens’s ties with Washington, particularly their protection relationship, develop nearer.

Turkey had already requested to purchase new US-made F-16s and F-16 improve kits final yr, however in July, US lawmakers accepted an modification making that buy more durable by requiring President Joe Biden — who has expressed help for the sale — to certify to Congress that it’s important to US nationwide safety.

Greece and Turkey’s location subsequent to one another in southeastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea and the Japanese Mediterranean Sea, makes them strategically essential NATO members amid heightened tensions in these areas.

However their relationships with the remainder of the alliance are heading in reverse instructions, and their very own longstanding rivalry might solely worsen if considered one of them will get new jets and the opposite does not.

Congressional opposition

Greece and Turkey have a really poor relationship and have usually come near open battle in latest a long time.

The neighbors are at loggerheads over plenty of points, together with ethnically divided Cyprus, opposing maritime claims within the Aegean and Japanese Mediterranean, and Turkey’s latest problem of the sovereignty of plenty of Greek islands.

Turkey’s relationships with different NATO members, notably the US, have additionally deteriorated. Ankara was a part of the F-35 program however was booted from it by the US for getting Russia’s S-400 surface-to-air missile system, which the US believed might compromise Western platforms, together with the F-35.

“Turkey has not endeared itself to the US of late,” mentioned Andrew Novo, a senior fellow with the Middle for European Coverage Evaluation and a professor on the Nationwide Protection College.

“Quite a few Turkish insurance policies have been a trigger for concern,” Novo informed Insider, citing the S-400 buy, the blocking of Sweden’s and Finland’s bids for NATO membership, provocations towards Greece and Cyprus, Turkish assaults on US-allied Kurdish fighters in Syria and Iraq, and Ankara’s involvement in Libya’s civil struggle.

US lawmakers have additionally expressed concern about erosion of democracy underneath President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“How do you reward a nation that does all of these issues?” Sen. Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Overseas Relations Committee, informed Politico in July. “I do not see it. Now, in the event that they need to begin altering their methods, that is a special story.”

The Home modification relating to Turkey’s F-16 request additionally requires Biden to explain steps being taken “to make sure that such F-16s will not be utilized by Turkey for repeated unauthorized territorial overflights of Greece.”

The modification might be “a sensible solution to try to reign in Turkish navy capabilities as a way to constrain Ankara from turning into much more impartial on the worldwide scene in utilizing its navy,” Novo mentioned.

“It might be a helpful bargaining chip towards one thing extra substantive that Washington would really like from Ankara,” he added.

Tense Aegean skies

Athens and Ankara regularly accuse one another of flying into the opposite’s airspace. Their jets frequently interact one another over the Aegean and each side have misplaced pilots and jets in these encounters.

“Greece buying F-35s just isn’t one thing Turkey wish to see as it will present Greece a superior fight plane platform,” Novo mentioned.

The Hellenic Air Drive has a fighter fleet of practically 200 plane, greater than half of them F-16s. The Turkish fighter fleet is barely bigger and made up largely of F-16s. This had created a tough parity, however the state of affairs is now altering.

Greece is upgrading 84 of its F-16s to the newest Viper configuration and just lately ordered 24 French Rafales, that are barely extra superior than the F-16 however not as refined because the F-35.

The Turkish Air Drive however continues to be recovering from the 2016 tried coup towards Erdogan, which led to tons of of its pilots being dismissed.

Collaborating within the F-35 program would have given Turkey a bonus over Greece’s F-16s, Novo informed Insider. But when Greece’s F-35 request is accepted, “it will actually make Turkey assume twice about difficult Greece within the skies” and would enhance “Greece’s deterrent capabilities considerably,” he added.

The shortcoming to improve and develop its F-16 fleet has led Turkey to discover alternate options.

Ankara is reportedly Eurofighter Typhoons — a 4.5-generation jet just like the Rafale — as an alternative of superior F-16s. Turkish Aerospace Industries, which is usually state-owned, is working with British agency BAE Methods to develop the TF-X, a fifth-generation stealth plane scheduled to enter service in 2028.

Turkey can also be creating the HÜRJET mild fight plane as a way to lower its air pressure’s reliance on the US.

The US has lengthy sought to help Greece and Turkey and to include their longstanding rivalry, viewing the 2 international locations as an essential bulwark in southeastern Europe.

Whereas there are requires the US to take care of its function as an even-handed mediator, the rising ties with Athens and growing rigidity with Ankara seem to mirror a altering calculus in Washington.

Constantine Atlamazoglou works on transatlantic and European safety. He holds a grasp’s diploma in safety research and European affairs from the Fletcher College of Legislation and Diplomacy. You may contact him on LinkedIn.