behind-the-scenes talks between Athena, Washington as well as Paris have been carried out at the diplomatic level over the past few weeks with the aim of pre-election period and – mainly – then in the period of time before possible second election – where will the interim government be – in the process aviation exercises with aircraft carriers. The rationale for this particular design aims to create a number of deterrents to create problems by Turkey in the Aegean sea.

In the event of a protracted pre-election period, Athens wants messages sent across the board (and especially in Ankara) that international alliances are working to remind the country of its position in NATO and to EUROPE. Officially, of course, these exercises will be part of a broad curriculum that is constantly evolving in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean between Greek Armed Forces (ED) and allies.

Athens’ goal is to send a signal to Ankara to avoid actions that could provoke tension in the Aegean.

Specific planning is based on the highly negative – historically – Turkish tactic of taking risky actions that lead to incidents (eg at Imia) during times of uncertainty or political transition. Also, a possible coincidence this year elections in Greece and Turkeyon Recep Tayyip Erdogan the conscious decision to resort to nationalist rhetoric and threats to national sovereignty only further highlights the need for action. It is recalled that the possibility of keeping the Ministers of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias and National Defense Nikos Panagiotopoulos in their positions even during the interim government has already been discussed (and probably will be implemented).

As for the operational part, in the case of the United States, the participation of an aircraft carrier is being discussed, which at that time will be in the wider area of ​​operations of the 6th Fleet. In the case of France, we are talking about the only aircraft carrier available to the French Navy, the Charles de Gaulle, possibly in combination with one of the Mistral-class helicopter carriers that conducted combat exercises in the Aegean with the Greek fleet. and the recent past. In the case of a repeat election, the period to be covered is approximately 30 days, which means that cooperation, if agreed, can be carried out on a permanent basis, first with the Americans and then with the French, or vice versa.

In both cases, in different ways, with the US and France (especially after the mutual assistance pact that accompanied the FDI frigate acquisition program), there is a structure in place to allow cross-sectoral exercises that can stretch over a long period of time. Also, on a practical level, for example, the US already has a large and permanent presence in Greece, either due to the need to support traffic through Alexandroupoli into Eastern Europe, or because of the new framework of the Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement (MDCA). allows large troop movements for this purpose. So, recently the exercises were carried out at almost all levels (armored, air force, navy, special forces).