The AHEPAN Spring 2023 - 23

CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY
AHEPA Opposes Administration's Plan to Sell F-16s to Turkey
Supreme President Jimmy Kokotas issued a January 17, 2023,
statement, and released commentary authored by Dr. Zenon
Christodoulou, chairman, AHEPA Cyprus Hellenic Affairs
Committee, as news reports suggested the Biden administration
sent an informal notice of the potential $20 billion sale to
Congress.
Statement
" The Biden administration's plan to seek congressional approval
for the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey is unacceptable.
" The United States justifiably and legally imposed sanctions
on Turkey after it purchased Russian-made S-400 missile
defense systems, which is in direct violation of U.S. law. The
Administration must be reminded that, under the Erdogan
regime, Turkey has compiled a history of provocative acts
and inflammatory rhetoric directed at the United States and
NATO alliance members along with U.S. allies and strategic
partners in the region. Turkey breaks U.S. law each time it
violates Greece's airspace with American-made aircraft as it
did 11,000 times in 2022 alone. Turkey cooperates and supports
entities the U.S. considers to be some of the world's most
malign actors while they have stymied the ascension bids of
Finland and Sweden into NATO by using their veto power as
a bargaining chip. The United States must not proceed with
any form of weapons upgrade to Turkey's F-16 fleet that can
potentially be used to further destabilize U.S. and NATO interests.
Furthermore, Turkey's abysmal human rights violations,
journalistic censorship and democratic suppression remains
among the worst in the world.
" We applaud the bipartisan outcry from members of
Congress in response to the Administration's proposed request.
As previously demonstrated, we will work with like-minded
organizations and our champions in Congress to address the
Administration's disconcerting request as we strive to promote
the rules-based system and world order. "
Commentary: The F-16 Is More Than a Plane
Turkey's ongoing effort to purchase F-16 modernization kits has
as much to do with the $20 billion transfer of military hardware
as it does with its hopes of blackmailing the U.S. and the
NATO alliance. The Order of AHEPA sees Turkey's misguided
pursuits as a high-stakes maneuver that will test whether the
West has the willingness to uphold its laws and principles in the
www.ahepa.org
long-term interest of its international reputation and strategic
defense.
Turkey is attempting to coerce the United States into an
entirely unacceptable position of either abandoning its longheld
support of international cooperation or being held at the
mercy of Turkey's veto power, which would prevent the inclusion
of Sweden and Finland into NATO. This attempt to usurp
international laws and prevent the logical inclusion of the
Scandinavian countries only exposes the Erdogan administration
for what they are - an authoritarian theocratic government
that has no interest in accepting the rules-based order of the
democratic world. He uses his nation's geographic location as
a bargaining chip and repeatedly dangles the false hope that
he will somehow be an honest broker in a volatile region. And
somehow, he gets a pass; even though he is the largest impediment
to progress and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Time and time again, Turkey has shown its unwillingness
to accept established laws and Western principles. In just the
past few years, Turkey has: 1) rejected the 100-year-old Treaty
of Lausanne; 2) purchased Russian S-400 missile systems, which
subjects Turkey to sanctions by the United States under CAATSA
and disqualifies them immediately from the F-16 upgrade; 3)
supported an oil for gold scheme, which hampered anti-terrorist
efforts; 4) further supported terrorist organizations by hosting
Hamas and others; 5) initiated daily military overflights of sovereign
Greek airspace, numbering in the tens of thousands last
year alone; 6) threatened that an invasion of Greece could come
'suddenly one night'; 7) suggested that the occupied portion of
Cyprus be annexed by Turkey; and 8) bizarrely claimed a Blue
Homeland, which seems to ignore the physical existence of
Crete (Europe's 5th largest island).
Turkey shows a complete inability to uphold the international
laws and practices of those whom it calls allies. And at
the same time, Turkey claims indignation when the U.S. and
NATO hold it accountable for these gross violations and countless
domestic abuses that are too numerous to mention here.
The F-16 is more than a plane. It is Turkey's attempt to
impose its will on the U.S. and our strategic allies in the region.
Fortunately, Senator Bob Menendez and other seasoned policymakers
have America's long-term interests in mind and realize
that U.S. foreign policy cannot be held at the mercy of such bellicose
rhetoric for the sake of expediency. If the U.S. capitulates
and authorizes the sale of F-16s to Turkey in the hopes that the
Spring 2023 · THE AHEPAN | 23
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The AHEPAN Spring 2023

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