Greece lobbies France to halt sale of advanced missiles to Turkiye

Greece is lobbying France to halt its sale of advanced missiles to Turkiye, amid Athens’ rivalry with Ankara in their regional arms race.

Last month, France agreed to sell MBDA Meteor missiles to Turkiye, in a move that would greatly enhance the capabilities of Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets that the Turkish government is negotiating to purchase.

Turkiye’s aims to buy the Eurofighter Typhoon jets are a result of its expulsion from the US-led F-35 fighter jet program in 2019 after Ankara purchased Russia’s S-400 air defence system. It also comes after Greece itself bought 24 French-made Rafale fighter jets over the past few years, the delivery of which was completed last month.

The acquisition of the radar-guided and air-to-air-meteor missiles for the Eurofighter jets, however, would give Turkiye an edge over Greece which Ankara could not have so quickly achieved without.

Greece to protest Italy over defence deal with Turkiye

Since the reports surfaced of France agreeing to sell the missiles to Turkiye, the Greek government has scrambled to attempt to prevent that sale, with Greek Defence Minister, Nikos Dendias having summoned the French ambassador in Athens in late January for “an official update on reports about the sale”.

According to the outlet, Politico, unnamed Greek government officials have now revealed that Athens is now lobbying against the sale at the highest levels, with Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis reportedly having made the matter a primary topic in talks with French President, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday, when they met on the sidelines of the global Artificial Intelligence Action Summit.

In a statement on the meeting between the two leaders, the French President’s office did not mention the issue of the missiles, but said that Macron affirmed to Mitsotakis “France’s commitment to the Franco-Hellenic strategic partnership as well as to the security of Greece”.