BILIRAKIS CONDEMNS TURKISH AGGRESSION, REITERATES U.S. RESOLVE TO HOLD ERDOGAN ACCOUNTABLE
Washington, DC: In response to the rapidly deteriorating political climate in the Eastern Mediterranean, Congressman Gus Bilirakis, who serves as Co-Chairman for the Congressional Caucus on House Hellenic Issues and the Congressional Hellenic Israel Alliance, issued a stern condemnation of continued Turkish aggression toward Greece. Noting the instability this behavior is having in the region and the parallels between Erdogan’s rhetoric toward Greece, and the hostile language Russian President Putin has directed toward Ukraine, Bilirakis warned that the United States will not waver in its defense of Greece, a long-standing, steadfast ally of the United States. Click here to listen to Bilirakis’s complete remarks.
Bilirakis’s remarks come on the heels of the House of Representatives passing the National Defense Authorization Act, which included an amendment championed by Representatives Bilirakis, Pappas, Malliotakis, and Pallone. The language would stop President Biden from selling F-16s to Turkey and put in place needed Congressional oversight to ensure that Turkey does not use F-16s to violate Greece’s sovereignty. This follows several bipartisan actions led by the group of legislators to oppose the Biden Administration’s proposal to sell F-16s, F-16 modernization kits, and other advanced weapons and equipment to Turkey despite its possession of the Russian S-400 missile system and continued violation of U.S. law, and its increasingly belligerent rhetoric and aggression towards Greece, America’s reliable, democratic NATO ally.
