With the passage of time, the question “what did Turkey ultimately gain from the “deal” at the White House?” is easier to answer, as the facts are clearer. We now know “what he gave” – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – but it remains unclear “what he has received“, primarily regarding the procurement of F-35 fighter jets. Perhaps all that remains are the political benefits of the White House visit after 6 years and the meeting with US President Donald Trump.
Read: Why Turkey cannot get the F-35s: What two prominent US Congress members tell “Parapolitika”
Exclusive: The “gains” from Erdogan and Mitsotakis’ US “deal”, what Endy Zemenides tells parapolitika.gr
According to Executive Director of the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC), Endy Zemenides, who spoke to parapolitika.gr, the US President knew well, before the meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that the law does not allow Congress to approve the sale of F-35s to Turkey, and indeed, as he notes, this law was written by both Democrats and Republicans. Completely rejecting the possibility that Donald Trump would seek a solution bypassing Congressional approval, he estimates: “Especially now that Trump has shifted on the Ukraine issue, it doesn’t benefit him to give Turkey an easy solution, because that means he won’t be able to exert the pressure he wants on India, Egypt and other countries to buy weapons from America, when they could have other solutions, like Russia. The only solution is for Turkey to destroy the S-400s, either on its territory or elsewhere, but with Americans as witnesses. For Mr. Erdogan to succeed, he has a long road ahead. Changing America’s policy doesn’t happen so easily on such an issue“.
Regarding the possibility of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also passing through the White House door, Greek-American geostrategic analyst Endy Zemenides expresses the view that such a thing could happen in the coming period, without however considering it necessary in the given circumstance, and this because, as he says, “we are in the first nine months of Trump’s presidency. What we can observe is that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, among the first ministers he met was Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis. Also, US Interior Secretary Doug Bergum came to Greece, just as Greek Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou and Maritime Minister Vassilis Kikilias came to Washington and had meetings with many ministers, while next month US Energy Secretary Chris Wright is also coming to Greece. And Marco Rubio may come again for the Strategic Dialogue. If there’s any complaint about the importance they give us, this is probably for domestic reasons“.
According to Endy Zemenides, perhaps the appropriate time for a Trump-Mitsotakis meeting would be next year, when discussions for the new Greece – US Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement are also scheduled, because, as he argues, Greece-US relations are on solid ground.
