US ambassador to Turkey Jeff Flake on Wednesday referred directly to the US presence in Greece’s extreme northeast Aegean port of Alexandroupolis, and dismissing any notion of a military “build-up” aimed at the former, in fielding a question during an interview with AKP-leaning CNN Türk.
Asked by a presenter about the “US military build-up in Greece’s Alexandroupoli (sic) near the Turkish border”, the top American diplomat in the country reiterated that this is not related to Ankara, and instead is part of Washington’s efforts to support the Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion.
“I can say this unequivocally. Türkiye (Turkey) is our partner. We are not engaging in a buildup against it. We are concerned about what is happening in Ukraine and are doing everything we can to support it… The buildup in Greece is merely a logistical effort. We do not prefer one ally over another. Türkiye and Greece have decided that the Aegean should be a sea of peace.”
He continuing, Amb. Flake cited Turkey’s ambivalent response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, or what harsher critics have called all types of facilitation offered to Moscow by the Erdogan government and Turkish state.
“A large portion of this is related to Türkiye’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and whether this response aligned with the behavior expected of a true NATO ally. This means a great deal to us, and when I talk to my former colleagues on Capitol Hill, I see that the atmosphere has changed just in the past few years.”
