Greece-France military procurement deal seen by Turkish press as targeting Ankara

Greece's agreement to buy Belharra frigates from France, along with the Greek-French defence pact, received broad coverage in the Turkish press as well as newsflashes.

Much of the Turkish media viewed the upgrading of the Hellenic Navy and the deepening of the Greece-France strategic military relationship as a hostile act against Turkey.

The Turkish press focused on the statements of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and French President Emmanuel Macron at a joint news conference, where they described the signing of the bilateral agreements as "an historic day". Newspaper and other news websites clearly framed the upgrading of the Hellenic Armed Forces as a move directed at Ankara.

'Athens turning against Turkey'

"Athens, which is turning ever more against Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean, has concluded an agreement with its ally France," read a report on the website of the Milliyet daily.

In fact, the international community - from the US and the EU to Russia - have roundly denounced Turkish provocations and hostile military actions against Greece and Western interests in the Eastern Mediterranean

The Milliyet report cites the procurement of 24 French Rafale fighter jets by Greece, "which received the greatest support from France and the US in the [2020 Greek-Turkish] crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean".

"Defence agreement between Greece and France" was the title of an article in the pro-government newspaper Yeni Safak, which quoted Macron's statement that, "We must collaborate to protect Greece from aggressiveness."

'Greece's fear of Turkey costly'

The website haber3 adopted a sharper done regarding the Greece-France agreements.

An...