86125 - Transcription: Turkey is preparing its own fighter jet

N. Lygeros
Translated from the Greek by Athina Kehagias

We will slowly have to deal with another issue and it concerns the air force of Turkey. What Turkey wants is to quickly obtain her own fighter jet, with her own engine and she would like, when she says quickly of course, for it to be ready during the period 2031 – 2032. At this point of time it does not matter much to us because we have predominance, but let’s just understand that this effort is indicative, because she sees that she has problems obtaining equipment from other countries. She would like to have something of her own, to be truthful it would be a blessing if she had something of her own because we know the quality of Turkish aircraft, and as a result we won’t have the problems of dealing with others, and we ought to also understand that if it’s only her issue alone, then we don’t need to influence our allies to not function in alliance with Turkey. However, she’s got it in mind, she plans it, and of course she finds excuses because she hasn’t started yet and it won’t be ready any time soon, but the essence of the matter is that this perspective exists. It would be wise for us as Greece to think about it as well, it would be good to think about it at a European Union level, to handle it a little more wisely and to be prepared for this eventuality as well, because we should not bet upon merely one source of supply, we ought to have many alliances but additionally to be able to function independently with our own mightiness.