Turkish military sources earlier reported that it’s drones spotted the delivery of 23 tactical wheeled armored vehicles to the island of Lesbos and 18 military vehicles to Samos. The equipment was reportedly provided to Greece from the United States as part of a military assistance package.
The Turkish Defense Ministry has argued that Greece is deploying military equipment on the islands in violation of international agreements, in particular the Lausanne (1923) and Paris (1947) treaties. The emerging trend is especially disturbing as it could open the door to the further militarization of the region, warned Cahit Armagan Dilek, a Turkish defense and security expert.
"In the coming period, the United States may transfer military elements to the demilitarized islands belonging to Greece, to Crete, Alexandroupolis and other areas, and begin to hold military exercises on them or provide support to Greece. That is, Athens can allow the US Armed Forces to use the territory of the islands with non-military status in the Aegean Sea for these purposes. This development will pose a serious threat," Dilek emphasized.
Turkey has repeatedly voiced concerns over Greece's military deployments on the east Aegean islands. Last year, Ankara sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arguing that the islands of Limnos, Samothrace, Lesbos, Samos, Chios and Ikaria were ceded to Greece by the Ottoman Empire "on the specific and strict condition that they be kept demilitarized" which was sealed in the Lausanne Treaty. For its part, Athens says that the Lausanne Treaty prohibits building naval bases, fortifications or amassing large contingents of troops on the islands, insisting that Greece does not violate these obligations.
Still, the Turkish-Greek row over the Aegean islands is not the only issue that concerns Ankara, according to Dilek. The defense expert pointed out that the US is seemingly appeasing Athens to the detriment of its longstanding NATO ally, Turkey.
"The United States clearly shows unwillingness to cooperate with Turkey, which is caused by the latter's desire to conduct an independent foreign policy in the region," said Dilek. "Therefore, instead, Washington is trying to maintain cooperation with more 'compliant' regional states - in particular, with Greece and the Greek administration of Cyprus."
The Turkish security expert likewise drew attention to US plans to move main military assets from the Incirlik Air Base to Crete. Furthermore, in May 2022, Turkish media outlet Ulusal Kanal reported that the United States allegedly sent an official request to the Greek government seeking to deploy F-35 and F-16 fighter jets in Crete.
In July 2022, Greek Defense Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos announced that he had discussed Greece's potential entry into the F-35 program with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Sean Burke, the director of the Pentagon’s F-35 joint program office. The same month, 19FortyFive revealed that ten F-35A Lightning II fighter jets were training with the Hellenic Air Force in Greece. Last year, the US officially removed Turkey from the program over the latter's acquisition of Russian-made S-400 air defense systems.
"In my research, I drew attention to the fact that the United States, which had previously announced cooperation with Turkey on its projects in neighboring regions - in the Balkans, the Middle East and the Caucasus, starting from 2015, practically ceased to mention Turkey as its ally in documents," said Dilek. "Accordingly, the conclusion is clear: the United States no longer wants to work with Turkey. They have struck a number of agreements with Greece and the Greek Cypriots, through which they seek to compensate for the lack of cooperation with Ankara. Yes, Turkey continues to be a member of NATO, but it is obvious that in fact its membership is mere ink on paper."