Greece and France may sell Meteor missiles to Türkiye
Türkiye may receive Meteor missiles (photo: Wikipedia)
Last Tuesday, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with French President Emmanuel Macron. In particular, they discussed the possible sale of Meteor missiles to Türkiye, Kathimerini reports.
During the meeting on the sidelines of the informal summit of EU leaders, Mitsotakis asked Macron to inform him on this issue. In turn, the French president confirmed that contacts on this initiative are indeed ongoing.
It is currently known that Mitsotakis will meet with Macron again on Monday in Paris on the sidelines of the Artificial Intelligence Conference.
The meeting is also aimed at reinforcing the impression that Greek-French relations remain excellent, despite the recent controversy over the possible sale of Meteor missiles to Türkiye.
Relations between Greece and Türkiye
It should be noted that Greece and Türkiye have a long history of tense relations, in particular over territorial disputes in the Aegean Sea and the Cyprus issue.
Both countries are NATO members, but their bilateral relations are often complicated by disagreements over maritime borders, airspace, and energy resources in the Eastern Mediterranean.
In particular, in 2022, there was a temporary deterioration in relations. It was then that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, during his speech in the city of Samsun, said that Türkiye was producing its own ballistic missiles.
"Of course, this production scares the Greeks. When you say 'Typhoon', the Greeks get scared and say: "It will hit Athens". Well, of course, it will... If you don't calm down, if you try to buy something (for weapons) from here and there, from America to the islands," he said.
In December of the same year, Greece and Türkiye held secret talks with German mediation. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss ways to normalize relations between the two countries.
