US cannot find valuable ally like Türkiye, Erdoğan says

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has criticized the U.S. deployment of weapons on the Greek Islands, saying Washington cannot find a valuable ally like Türkiye.

“American armored vehicles are ultimately used to threaten us. But what they say is: ‘We are using and will use them against Russia. That’s why we’ve made such a deployment here.’ We tell America that you cannot find an ally like Türkiye,” Erdoğan said in an interview broadcast live on CNN TÜRK and Kanal D on Sept. 28.

It is “unacceptable” for Ankara that the U.S. sends such loads of weapons, ammunition and equipment to the islands of Lesbos and Samos, Erdoğan stated. Ankara forced necessary warning on both Athens and Washington on the issue and informed the U.N. via a letter sent on Sept. 17, he explained.

The U.S. does not act fairly among the NATO countries, Erdoğan said, adding that Türkiye is a member of NATO as Greece.

Erdoğan drew attention to the fact that Türkiye is among the “top five countries in NATO,” both in terms of payments and the support given by the Turkish Land Forces.

Reminding that there are a total of nine U.S. bases in Greece, Erdoğan said: “Our expectation from the U.S. is that it does not miscalculate Greece and does not allow international public opinion to be manipulated. Right now, we are following all this happening step by step.”

The lifting of the arms embargo by the U.S. on Greek Cyprus has no explanation either in terms of content or timing, he also emphasized.

Erdoğan also warned that the U.S. move of lifting the arms embargo on Greek Cyprus could cause a race of armament in the region.

“The U.S., which ignores and even encourages the Greece-Greek Cyprus duo’s steps that threaten peace and stability in the eastern Mediterranean, will cause an arms race on the island with this step. Will we stop? We can’t stop.”

Erdoğan recalled that U.S. President Joe Biden expressed support for the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye, but the U.S. officials pointed at the Republicans for blocking the process.

The president reminded that he had meetings with Republican politicians, including Senator Lindsey Graham, during his recent visit to New York. “In those discussions, they gave me positive answers. They said, ‘So we cannot leave Türkiye, our most important partner in NATO, alone at this point, we will do our best,’” Erdoğan said.