Substantive commitments and moral obligations

by | Feb 4, 2025 | Editorial and Analysis

BREAKING News

 

We were angered by the fact that France is seriously considering selling its long-range Meteor air-to-air missiles to Turkey. Athens’ annoyance is completely justified, but the question is whether in the agreement signed between Greece and France to acquire Rafale aircraft and frigates there was some, formal or informal, French commitment that the country would never give Turkey a weapon that would neutralize the advantages that our country would gain with the French armaments. It could even be a secret annex to the defense cooperation agreement that the two countries have signed. If none of this exists, it will be difficult to invoke any moral obligation on the part of the French because, as is well known, when it comes to armaments, morality rarely plays a role. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will attempt to convince French President Emmanuel Macron that selling the Meteors to Ankara would be a mistake. Only his own intervention and influence could prevent it.

Similar issues certainly arise in relation to the United States. Greece indirectly gave the green light for it to proceed with sales and upgrades of Turkey’s US-made F-16 fleet. In return, it received a letter from the now-former secretary of state Antony Blinken, which contained the most vague and loose wording on the US intention to guarantee the security of Greece and the balance in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean. It also received a list of used military equipment.

The country’s entire military leadership decided to “shop” very little from this specific list because the equipment was problematic and very expensive to repair and transport. Finally, there were hints of the US intention to ensure a qualitative advantage for Greece in the supply of American equipment. In other words, the US should commit that Greece will always be one step ahead of what Turkey buys from the US. With this reasoning, the green light was given for Greece to buy F-35 fighter jets. But again, all of this is informal and depends each time on the moods of the respective occupant of the White House and Congress. At the same time, there is a practical issue because Greece cannot go bankrupt trying to buy the latest defense equipment.

But we need to think again about whether it was wise for Greece to give “certificates of good conduct” to Turkey. If it was wise, the government should decide whether these certificates have an expiration date and how it can use them from now on for negotiating purposes. The Americans agreed on the F-16 jets and the Germans proceeded with the Turkish order for submarines because a moratorium was established in the Aegean Sea and Turkey stopped the overflights. Since the Turks were playing nice compared with what was happening in 2020, there was no reason to continue the informal embargo. In essence, however, the Turkish claims and demands did not change at all.

The Greek prime minister has a difficult mission to accomplish: He must convince our European allies to ensure the strategic balance between Greece and Turkey. At the same time, he must read the new political reality in the US, both in the White House and in the new Congress, which lacks some of the solid safeguards of the past. Of course, guessing what US President Donald Trump is thinking about all this, one would probably have to resort to an astrologer, rather than some international expert.

 

 

https://www.ekathimerini.com/opinion/1260322/substantive-commitments-and-moral-obligations/

 

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Dynamis Media Group llc, NeaProini.gr or NeaProini.us. Any content provided by our authors and/or contributors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.

Breaking News