Dendias says Turkey poses existential threat
Defense Minister Nikos Dendias described Turkey’s long-term attitude toward Greece as an existential threat during his address in Parliament on Wednesday which ratified his ministry’s defense innovation bill.
“When there is a neighboring country that disputes a sovereign status – not just sovereign rights – and international treaties regarding minority designation, this is obviously an existential threat. The legal and geographical borders of our country are also threatened,” he stressed.
“We must be ready for this, although we welcome in the most absolute way the low tones and the better climate that exists with neighboring Turkey in the recent period,” Dendias added.
The defense minister argued that the geopolitical situation is the most essential reason that dictates the need for a comprehensive reform of the Hellenic Armed Forces, the so-called “Agenda 2030,” which includes large arms procurements and innovation through the establishment of the Greek Center for Innovation Development (ELKAK).
“In the coming days, the matter of the Constellation frigates, the solution for the next-generation Navy, will come before the House Arms Committee,» he said. At the same time, he added, «the F-35 program will come, also within the framework of the reorganization of the Air Force.”
“We will discuss, first at the General Staff level, the issue of the new generation of submarines of the Navy.”
A discussion is also pending on the modernization of the type 214 (Papanikolis) submarines, but also on whether two more of this technology should be built.
