Aegean dispute

Turkey, via leaks, continues to deny there are limits on the use of the F-16 fighter jets that the US recently agreed to supply.

The US State Department has specifically noted that these jets cannot be used for overflights above Greek islands and Syria.

This was announced today by the State Department.
In Ankara, Nuland will meet with high-ranking officials of the Turkish government and business leaders with whom she will discuss a number of bilateral, regional and global issues on which the two countries cooperate.

Turkey's growing influence in Libya is reportedly worrying Athens, especially as tensions between Ankara and Benghazi have eased.

The US ambassador to Turkey said he anticipates that President Tayyip Erdogan will give a final sign-off on Sweden's NATO membership within days, triggering rapid steps toward US Congress endorsing a sale of F-16 fighter jets to Ankara.

Marking three years since the ratification by Parliament of the extension of Greece's territorial waters to 12 nautical miles in the Ionian Sea, Defense Minister Nikos Dendias said on Saturday that the country has grown in size, guided by the application of international law and the international law of the sea. 

Turkish President Recep Tayipp Erdogan reiterated his country's determination to defend its "Blue Homeland" from the Aegean to the Eastern Mediterranean, stressing that Ankara has not "changed its axis," but has created its own, which he called the "axis of Turkey."

Developments in relations between Greece and Turkey, between Greece and the United States, and between the United States and Turkey show how interdependent they all are.

The meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, in Istanbul on Saturday lasted approximately two hours. 

Following this, Blinken is expected to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before departing for Crete, where he will meet Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. 

Despite being an election year, 2023 did not see any turbulence in Greek-Turkish relations. Indeed, it was probably the calmest year since the abortive coup in Turkey in 2016.

The government of Turkey has threatened to invade and annex Greek islands in the Aegean Sea for at least the past five years