Two F-16s, upgraded to Block 70, will be delivered to Athens on Monday, September 12. Lockheed Martin is expected to complete the renewal of four F-16s by 2023.
These modernized F-16s will provide some advantages to the Greek Air Force, especially the AESA radar. 6 Rafales delivered by France and 2 F-16s delivered by the USA are not enough to change the balance in the Aegean, but the calendar is working against Turkey.
Greece will have 24 Rafale aircraft by 2025, and the modernization of 84 F-16s will be completed by 2027. There is also a request letter sent to Washington to buy 40 F-35s from the USA, 20 of which are definite and 20 are optional. Athens intends to receive the first F-35s by 2028.
Domestic National Combat Aircraft will join the Turkish Air Force inventory in 2030, but the first delivery will be only one fleet.
When all these are written one after the other, the Turkish-Greek balance in the Aegean will be broken in 2025. In the past, the USA acted with the thesis that “If the strength of the two sides is equal, they will not fight”, now they have upset this balance in favor of Greece. Regarding Turkey’s demands regarding F-16s, the US administration has not taken a step unless it invites those who oppose Turkey’s F-16 program, especially Senator Menendez, to the White House and lobby for this issue. On November 8, elections will be held in the United States for the entire House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate. The White House may be waiting for the new era, but Turkey’s patience has its limits.
Most of us think that the sentence “A new world order will be established, and Turkey will take its place in this new world” is included in İnönü’s reply to the letter of US President Johnson. The delivery date of US President Johnson’s ugly letter to Prime Minister İnönü is June 5, 1964. However, this famous sentence was in Milliyet’s headline with a quote from Time magazine on April 16, 1964, 44 days before that letter. The reason I remind you of this sentence is that President Erdoğan attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit to be held in Uzbekistan on September 15-16. There will be 14 heads of state and government, as well as the heads of state of China and Russia, two other countries producing 5th generation warplanes in the world. Washington, “Is NATO more important for Turkey or Turkey for NATO?” should now answer the question. After all, Turkey is not the only thing to think about these days when a new world order is being established.
The story of Bomber Ali Sergeant
He was born in Crete in 1875. He never forgot the pain he experienced while leaving the island from the hands of the Greeks.
His brother “Guzel Ahmet” was martyred in Çanakkale. His other brother, Ethem Sergeant, was one of the heroes who, with his knowledge of Greek, deceived the Greek soldiers and ensured a raid.
Young Ali participated in the First World War voluntarily, like his brothers, and was promoted to the Akıncı Detachment Command. Because of his success in bombing conflicts, his name was Bombacı Ali Sergeant.
He fought a gang war during the occupation years of İzmir, infiltrated into Dikili, Menemen, Çiğli and Karşıyaka and carried out actions.
On September 9, 1922, he fought at the front of the 14th Cavalry Division under the command of Suphi Kula, which had liberated Menemen and Karşıyaka a hundred years ago. His name was commemorated with Suphi Kula, Zekai Kaur and Zühtü Işıl during the liberation of Karşıyaka. Today, his statue stands in a park arranged in his name in Karşıyaka.
Bomber Ali Sergeant is actually the polite version of his nickname, there were some who called him Deaf Ali Sergeant because he had problems with his ears from using too many bombs. Ali Sergeant is one of those whose story we know. For example, the story of Heraklion Standard-bearer Molla Fehmi Bey is not known at all. Molla Fehmi Bey, whose house was left behind by those who were attacked as dead, and whose wife and children were hiding in the barn at that time, was married to Ali Sergeant’s older sister. Fehmi Bey lost his eye in that attack. Then he immediately returned to his homeland, lived in Aydın, Söke, Istanbul, died in Istanbul in 1949, his grave is in the Kulaksız Cemetery. I know his story because he was my great grandfather.
Today is the 100th Anniversary of the Liberation of Izmir, someone in my country said, “There is no need to celebrate the days of liberation,” but history says the opposite.
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