‘Response to Greece’s F-35s with KAAN’ Retired Lieutenant General Karakuş speaks to 12punto: They are relying on the US and France

Greek Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis made harsh statements directed at Turkey during a television program he attended.

Referring to AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ‘We may come suddenly one night’ rhetoric, Georgiadis said, “The Turks’ ‘We may come suddenly one night’ rhetoric makes me laugh. We are the only ones who could go to Turkey suddenly one night with F-35s. You saw what happened in Yemen. If you have F-35s that are not caught on radar, you could be in Ankara suddenly one night. I am not saying we will do such a thing, we do not want to do it.”

GREEK MINISTER’S ‘TURKEY IS AT ZERO IN AVIATION’ OUTBURST

Stating, “What Erdoğan says makes me laugh. How is he going to come to Greece? With his shoes on?”, Georgiadis claimed that Turkey is at ground zero in aviation.

Retired Air Lieutenant General Erdoğan Karakuş evaluated the Greek minister’s statements for 12punto.

“IF YOU ARE COMING SOMEWHERE, THERE WILL BE A RESPONSE”

Responding to the Greek minister, Karakuş stated, “In aviation and armed forces, everything is weighed. If you are coming somewhere, there will be a response. Therefore, they cannot easily do this because what they will see in return will be much heavier.”

"GREECE WILL CONTINUOUSLY REMAIN BEHIND US"

Karakuş continued as follows:

"F-35s will start being delivered to Greece from 2028 onwards. In the meantime, we will have also started flying the KAAN gradually.

As a result, I think we will have produced as many KAANs as they have F-35s. If we also acquire the F-16s, Greece will continuously remain behind us in terms of air power.”

Emphasizing that Greece does not have a defense industry, Karakuş said, “The most they have been able to produce is a few unmanned aerial vehicles. But Turkey has a defense industry. This is increasing and continuing.”

“THEY ARE IN A STATE OF GREAT INFERIORITY”

Speaking about the reason for the Greek minister’s harsh statements, Karakuş continued his words:

“They are currently in a state of great inferiority. The reason is this: they were defeated by the Ottomans in 1897. They were defeated in the War of Independence. They suffered a tremendous rout in 1974. They could not declare war on Turkey. They could not even send proper aircraft to Cyprus to defend their soldiers.

Because they know these things, they are trying to create an agenda for themselves by asking, ‘Can we create discomfort in Turkey?’”

“THEY HAVE RECEIVED THE SUPPORT OF AMERICA AND FRANCE”

“They have received the full support of America. France’s support is also well-known. They have made an agreement that France will enter the war alongside Greece if it is a country that Greece will fight (even if it is a NATO country). They are making these statements by relying on them.”

“THEY ARE SPEAKING THIS WAY TO GET THE SUPPORT OF OTHER COUNTRIES”

Drawing attention to Greece’s demographic structure, Karakuş said, “There are 11 million people in Greece. 2 million of them are Greek. There are more or less 1.5 million Albanians, 1.5 million Macedonians, 1 million Vlachs, and 1.5 million Christian Karaman Turks who went from Turkey during the population exchange. There are Ottoman Turks, that is also close to 1 million. As a result, if there are 2 million Greeks in a country of 11 million, of course, there must be constant hostile behavior toward Turkey so that they can create an environment of unity and get the support of other countries.”

“GREECE WILL NEVER REACH THE POINT IT WANTS”

“Turkey continues its aviation efforts. Turkey has missile production capability. It is impossible for them to surpass us in UAVs and SİHAs,” said Karakuş, drawing attention to the KAAN project and saying the following regarding the Turkish and Greek air forces:

“We are trying to gain time. The top project right now is to build a fighter jet. That is the KAAN project. The first priority is to produce an aircraft that is superior or equal to the other side’s aircraft.

We are not thinking of the KAAN only for ourselves. If you think only for yourself, it does not mean anything. You cannot save yourself from its financial environment. Especially the Turkic states and states close to us are waiting for the KAAN. The point is to produce 1,000 and sell 700 of them to them, and move to stronger positions both militarily and politically. This is our goal.

Then, there will be no such thing as Greece’s power. The Turkish Air Force is superior to the Greek Air Force, and efforts are continuing to maintain that superiority. That is why we are buying F-16s. We are working on this regarding the purchase of Eurofighters. We are trying to increase the speed of the KAAN aircraft to get it into service as soon as possible.

Besides this, we are increasing our missile systems and air defense systems. We can make these domestically. Greece cannot do these.

Greece will never reach the point it wants compared to us.”