Retired Brigadier General Ali Er Described the Greece-Israel Air Defense Agreement as a NATO Risk

Regarding the giant air defense agreement between Greece and Israel, Retired Brigadier General Ali Er said, "There is no difference between this agreement and Turkey purchasing S-400s from Russia. The same risk and threat remains for NATO."

Er said Turkey should object to the NATO boards regarding the agreement. An "Achilles Shield" air defense agreement worth approximately 3 billion Euros ($3.5 billion) was signed between Greece and Israel on August 31.

Retired Brigadier General Ali Er pointed out that the agreement in question should not be evaluated differently from Turkey's purchase of the S-400 air defense system from Russia in terms of NATO.

Er said, "Because Israel is not a NATO member like Russia. Russia is a registered risk and threat to NATO, but Israel is also a risk and threat to NATO member Turkey. Finally, Israel's airport attack in Syria is proof of this."

'GREECE CANNOT BUY THE ACCHILLES SHIELD'

Explaining that NATO's air and missile defense architecture changed after the Lisbon Summit in 2010, Er said:

"From the Cold War period until 2010, NATO was only responsible for the air defense of forces assigned to NATO in the theater of operations, and countries were also responsible for their own national air defense. This is the reason why Greece can use S-300s. However, after the 2010 Lisbon Summit, the USA proposed the unification of NATO's air systems in order to place air defense systems in Europe. The air defense of NATO countries was accepted as a single airspace defense. Accordingly, A command and control system was established in Ramstein, and even one of its radars is in Kürecik. As a result, Türkiye could not buy the S-400s, but Greece could not buy the Achilles Shield from Israel either.

Er also noted that Turkey should report the agreement to the NATO Military Committee (MC) and NAC (North Atlantic Council) and object to the agreement due to the risk of NATO's air defense system source codes falling into Israel's hands.