The Greek government has overruled applicable laws in massive arms purchases, an opposition lawmaker said Monday.
In an article she penned for the Efsyn news outlet, Sofia Sakorafa of the MeRA25 party drew attention to dozens of massive arms purchases that were approved and cost billions of euros in the last three meetings of parliament's Standing Committee on National Defense and Foreign Affairs on June 22, June 27 and July 4.
While early elections are now a possibility, the government is pressing the committee to accelerate the approval process to fulfill its promises made to the United States, she asserted.
Sakorafa noted that the government overrules the legislative frameworks and laws by claiming that these arms deals are "urgent" and consequently uses schemes of government-to-government contact that the laws allow only in exceptional conditions.
These practices serve clientelism in the country and increase dependence on the United States while already impoverished Greek people have to bear the immense cost, she said.
Sakorafa finally called on all Greek political parties, particularly the main opposition party SYRIZA-PS and the Greek Communist Party (KKE), to react against the government's practices.
"This is our responsibility toward the Greek people," she concluded.
Greece recently also signed multiple big-ticket arms deals with Israel for the purchase of drones and missiles, with France for the purchase of Rafael warplanes and with the U.S. for the update of its F-16 fighter jets for the latest Viper configuration.
More recently, the U.S. State Department approved the sale of four warships worth $6.9 billion to Greece along with existing frigate modernization transactions worth $2.5 billion.
Greece also expressed interest in purchasing at least 20 U.S.-made F-35 warplanes.
Turkey has often warned Greece against indulging in an arms race, offering instead to resolve all outstanding issues, including in the Aegean, the Eastern Mediterranean and the island of Cyprus, through dialogue.
Turkey will not relinquish its rights in the Aegean Sea and will not hesitate to use its powers stemming from international agreements, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said last month as he attended the Efes-2022 military exercise held on Aegean coasts.
Greece should stop arming the islands with nonmilitary status and abide by the international agreements, he said on a resurgence in long-running tensions between the Aegean Sea neighbors.
"I warn Greece to avoid dreams, acts and statements that will result in regret. Come to your senses," he said in a televised speech as he observed the Turkish military exercises on the coast of western Izmir province.
"Turkey will not renounce its rights in the Aegean and will not back down from using rights that are established by international agreements when it comes to arming islands."
Greece is violating treaties by arming islands in the Aegean, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also said, warning that the sovereignty of those islands will be questioned if it fails to demilitarize them.
Greece has been building a military presence on the Aegean islands in violation of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and the 1947 Paris Treaty, he said, adding that the islands were ceded to Greece on the condition that they are kept demilitarized.
Turkey in recent months has stepped up criticism of Greece stationing troops on islands in the eastern Aegean, near the Turkish coast and in many cases visible from shore. These islands were required to be demilitarized under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and the 1947 Treaty of Paris, so any troops or weapons on the islands are strictly forbidden.
Also, Turkey and Greece have traded accusations of airspace violations in recent weeks. Turkey is demanding that Greece demilitarize its eastern islands, maintaining the action is required under 20th-century treaties that ceded sovereignty of the islands to Greece. Turkish authorities say the Greeks have stationed troops on Aegean islands in violation of the peace treaties that followed World War I and World War II.
Greece continues to militarize islands in the eastern Aegean, in violation of both the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and the Paris Treaty of 1947. Despite international agreements and treaties, Greece remains adamant about stationing its armed forces on eastern Aegean islands, especially the Dodecanese islands and small nearby islets, including islands and islets very close to Turkey's western coast, many within sight of the shore.
Greece has been putting its armed forces on Aegean islands since the early 1960s notwithstanding numerous objections by Turkey and its obligations under international agreements. Turkey has been reiterating its objections in this regard by making the case to various international organizations and institutions that they should take steps on the issue and halt Greece's actions along these lines. Athens counters that the troops are stationed in response to the presence of Turkish military units, aircraft and landing craft on the opposite coast.
Turkey and Greece are at odds over a number of issues, including competing claims over jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean, overlapping claims over their continental shelves, maritime boundaries, air space, energy, the ethnically split island of Cyprus, the status of the islands in the Aegean Sea and migrants.
Tensions flared again last month when Erdoğan said Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis "no longer exists" for him, accusing him of trying to block sales of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey during a visit to the United States.
