Notes

Milli Savunma Bakanı Nikos Dendias'ın Nikos Hatzinikolaou'nun programındaki Röportajı (Real Fm)
30 Ocak 2024

N.HATZINIKOLAOU: Son 48 saatin konusu olan F-35'lerin Yunanistan tarafından tedarik edilmesi ve F-16'ların Türkiye tarafından tedarik edilmesi ya da, her halükarda, tedarik edilmesine ilişkin sürecin başlaması ile başlayacağım.

Muhalefet bunun hükümet tarafından tarif edildiği gibi diplomatik bir zafer olmadığını, çünkü Yunan hükümetinin ve Başbakan'ın Türkiye'nin F-16'ları alamayacağını taahhüt ettiğini ve bunun bir yenilgi olduğunu söylüyor. Sizin yanıtınız nedir?

N. DENDIAS: First of all, I am absolutely certain that there was no such commitment by the Prime Minister or the Government for a simple and basic reason. There could not have been. The issue of Turkey's supply of defence equipment from the United States is an issue that concerns both Turkey and the United States. What Greece has always loudly stated is that the United States should be the ones, sovereignly, because it is their issue, to judge whether the transfer of war material to Turkey serves American and NATO interests.

Now, as far as the bilateral relationship between Greece and the United States is concerned, I think that the supply of the most modern fighter aircraft on the planet today that is being exported, the F-35, maintains the superiority of the Greek Air Force over any country in our region, in our "close" region.

I am not talking about countries like Israel and so on, with which Greece has no rivalry or friction whatsoever anyway. Consequently, I think that Greek interests are protected by the supply of this new very, very important and sophisticated system.

N. HATZINIKOLAOU: Before I come to the procurement of the F-35, I'll stand on the procurement of the F-16s by Turkey, to ask if there will be any commitment by the neighboring country, any instruction from the United States, not to use the F-16s against a NATO ally. That is, against Greece basically.

N. DENDIAS: Let me put this in the context of the first answer I gave. What is the interest of the United States? Is it in the interest of the United States for Greece to be threatened by another country? Let's not name Turkey and load it up. Any other NATO member country, with weapons provided by the most important NATO member country, the United States? Does that help the interests of the United States? The answer, in my humble judgment, is no. Consequently, the United States must ensure that the supply of military equipment is not directed against allied countries and that the supply itself does not jeopardise the interests of the United States and the alliance in which the United States is leading.

N. HATZINIKOLAOU: I ask you, because I see today in Kathimerini that there is a secret letter from the State Department to the relevant congressional committees that will not be made public, where if the condition that the F-16s must be used only for coalition purposes and not for overflights is not implemented, if it is violated, the State Department commits to take initiatives to address the problem. Is there any basis for this report? I ask you because I heard Mrs Bakoyannis yesterday on SKAI saying that there will be no written commitment.

N. DENDIAS: I do not know and I would not want to mislead your audience. But I would say that it would be wise on the part of the United States, in my own humble judgment, to have conditions that would guide Turkey in making good decisions about the use of the weapons systems that coalition states, not only the United States, but coalition states, Great Britain, for example, provide them. It is not understandable that weapons produced within the Alliance should be used against allies. It is not, at least in my understanding. It's illogical.

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N. HATZINIKOLAOU: When the orders that are provided for in these letters that Greece and Turkey have received from the United States have been implemented, how will our balance in the air be shaped? That is the critical question.

N. DENDIAS: It is not nice to say this, because it may be perceived as bragging by the opposite side of the Aegean, I believe that today and then the Greek air force, based first of all on its manpower, but also on the ships that we have and will have with the Greek taxpayer's money, will have an absolute deterrence capability, not to say complete superiority.

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N. HATZINIKOLAOU: A friend of mine says, "I've been reading on the Internet the last few days various people commenting that the Americans can lock up the F-35s and not take them forward." In other words, we can't use them whenever we want.

N. You always know, in every thing especially with a very sophisticated software, there is a sophisticated conspiracy theory.

In fact, of course, when you supply a sophisticated system from a country, it is the country that determines what exactly they will sell you, not what they will "lock you in" and so on, but what are the capabilities that they will give you.

Will it give you 100% of the system or less than that? That will be negotiated with the United States of America.

N. HATZINIKOLAOU: It's what you said before about the configuration of the aircraft, about the equipment.

N. DENDIAS: Exactly, exactly.

N. HATZINIKOLAOU: So that is a matter for negotiation.

N. DENDIAS: Absolutely. As well as we should not be in a hurry. We want the most sophisticated. We don't want what exists today. We want what will be there tomorrow, because the F-35 is also an aircraft that is evolving. It may morphologically look the same from the outside, but it doesn't mean it has the same systems, it doesn't mean it has the same radar, it doesn't mean it has the same software.

So, for the Greek Air Force, more important than the number of aircraft is the configuration of the aircraft, what capabilities they will have. Because we have to move, Mr. Hadjinikolaou, from the logic of the aircraft to the logic of the platform.

The F-35 is a platform. It has multiple capabilities compared to anything flying in the world today.

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N.HATZINIKOLAOU: How did the meeting with Mr. Kasselakis go yesterday?

N.DENDIAS: Very well. There was a very, very serious approach on the part of the President of SYRIZA and his staff to what was explained both with the door open and with the door closed.

N.HATZINIKOLAOU:Will you inform the other political leaders if they ask you?

N.DENDIAS: Of course. It is my constitutional obligation and mandate from the Prime Minister. We don't have closed doors. We do not consider these to be issues of the Mitsotakis government. They are issues of Greek society and the Greek people.

After all, it is the Greek taxpayer's money that we are managing. They have not voted for us as a whole.

https://www.mod.mil.gr/synenteyxi-ypoyrgoy-ethnikis-amynas-nikoy-dendia-stin-ekpompi-nikoy-chatzinikolaoy/