Athens announces its intention to boost its military amid tension with Ankara
The Greek government has revealed its intention to buy weapons, strengthen the army and modernize its defense industry, as tensions with the Turkish regime over the exploration for energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean grow.
“We are in contact with our allies to boost our armed forces,” Reuters quoted government spokesman Stelios Petsas as saying to reporters, noting that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will present the outline of his plans during an annual economic policy speech next Saturday.
A Greek government official said last week that his country held talks with France and other countries to buy combat aircraft.
Greece, which in 2018 emerged from its third international rescue plan and suffers from the economic effects of the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, wants to spend part of its billions of euros of cash reserves on the defense sector.
Inas Abdulkareem