What does Erdogan want now?

Written by Kostas Stupas

1) What does Erdogan want now?

On October 2, as you remember, the meeting between Turkish Presidential Representative Ibrahim Kalin and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan took place in Istanbul.

During the news coverage of the meeting, which was held at the presidential resort in Mabein, topics such as political and economic relations between Turkey and the United States, areas of cooperation in the defense industry, the war in Ukraine, the accession process of Sweden and Finland were discussed. In NATO and developments in the Aegean, Mediterranean and South Caucasus.

It was also emphasized that completing the process on the F-16 issue would serve the strategic interests of both countries.

The next day, Ankara and Tripoli signed two memoranda of cooperation in the field of hydrocarbons, during a trip by the Turkish Foreign Minister to Libya, an operation that the two sides had clearly planned long before that…

This agreement between Libya and Ankara has been the subject of strong contention from within Libya and an important factor in the international community.

At the same time, after the meeting between Sullivan and Kalin in Istanbul, it became known that the Turkish side requested a meeting between the defense ministers of the two countries, Hulusi Akar and Nikos Panagiotopoulos, on the sidelines of the NATO Ministerial Summit in Brussels.

The request was accepted by the Greek side and the meeting was held where the official announcements were made in a cautious tone. It should be noted that Mr. Akar is one of the Turks who have been leading threats against Greece in recent months…

At the same time that all this is happening, it is known that there is pressure in the USA to remove the obstacles to Turkey acquiring new F-16s and modernizing the old…

The above developments demonstrate that there is a plan underway by the United States to re-engage with Ankara and for this reason there is pressure to change tactics in some key areas, among them Greek-Turkish relations.

If the regime in Turkey is completely isolated and Recep Tayyip Erdogan is an unpredictable “mood-man”, then there are likely to be other initiatives for rapprochement between the two countries.

It is still unknown what kind of exchanges have been proposed to Turkey to change course in the region, but we should not expect that these will affect Greek interests …

The ambitions of the “neo-Ottoman” regime to elevate Turkey into a regional power are even deeper and tied to the population and economic dynamics of its neighbor in recent decades. These ambitions are in many places at odds with the interests of the West in the wider region, and sooner or later points of friction will surface again…

Even if Turkey were allowed to acquire new F-16s and upgrade the old ones to Vipers, this process would take several years to complete and in any case would lag behind the current Greek Air Force upgrade plan. ..

Let’s not forget that, based on previous plans, Turkey should already have the F-35 with its own participation in production and exceed the capabilities of the Greek Air Force by two decades. Now the relationship between this air power balance has been reversed and is not expected to be reversed in the next ten to twenty years…

The question remains how, in the pre-election period, Erdogan’s regime will be able to throw threatening tones towards Greece and whether the exchange it has obtained is a protection for its people in the event that the pro-Western Kemalists who are in opposition return after the upcoming elections;

Greece must continue its efforts to prevent and curb Turkish power at the military and diplomatic level, as it has successfully done in recent years.

2) Here’s why Greek banks benefit from the economy

Dear Mr. Stupa,

Reading the above post on 10/17/2022 and knowing how the banking system works from the inside, I would like to suggest that with an opportunity to inform readers that the banking supervisory authority in our country is by law the Bank of Greece and that the Banking Ombudsman will also greatly help them in resolving any problems they may encounter .

Thanks

Kostas Tavlaridis

[email protected]