Greece has bought 24 French-made Rafale fighter jets, but Turkey can’t easily match that after it was expelled from the F-35 program in 2019 after buying Russia’s S-400 air defense system.
Instead, Ankara now aims to buy 40 Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets — 20 used ones from the United Kingdom and 20 new ones — and wants them equipped with Meteors. The missiles are made by Paris-based European arms-maker MBDA.
Despite being NATO allies, Athens and Ankara have been at odds for years over a number of bilateral squabbles, including maritime boundaries, overlapping claims to their continental shelves and Cyprus.
In late January, Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias summoned the French ambassador in Athens, Laurence Auer, requesting “an official update on reports about the sale.”
“I expressed to the French ambassador the strong opposition of Greece to such a possibility, which is not in line with the excellent strategic relations between the two countries,” Dendias said in his post on platform X.
Seeking to ease Athens’ concerns, a French diplomat told Greek media that the U.K., not France, is leading talks on the deal.