Because of Turkey ... French arms sales "recover"




New repercussions of the eastern Mediterranean crisis, between Turkey on the one hand and other parties in the region on the other hand, have begun to appear clearly on France, especially in arms sales.

During the current year, the French army participated in a series of military exercises and maneuvers with Turkey's opponents in the eastern Mediterranean, to confirm Paris' support for these countries in their regional conflicts with Ankara.

However, according to "Forbes" magazine, this participation does not only mean French support, but also contributes to promoting new French weapons.

French President Emmanuel Macron is a strong critic of Turkey's foreign policy led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, especially regarding the issueIt concerns the treatment of the Kurds and the Libyan conflict, and Ankara's actions in the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey is locked in a dispute over the demarcation of its maritime borders with Greece, and claims its right to explore and exploit hydrocarbons in the eastern sea area, which faces opposition from a number of countries.

Tensions increased between Turkey and Greece when Ankara insisted on drilling for hydrocarbons in the disputed waters, while Paris showed its support for Athens, by deploying two "Rafale" fighters on the Greek island of Crete with a warship, last August.

During this period, Greece announced the expansion of its military capacity, as it went to France to buy 18 Rafale aircraft (6 new and 12 used that had previously served in the French Air Force), and thus Greece became the first European country to buy this type of fighters.


Athens has also reached a deal worth 260 million euros (about 305 million dollars) with France to modernize its current fleet of "Dassault Mirage 2000-5" fighters.

"Forbes" revealed that France also concluded new arms deals with another country that is concerned about Turkey's moves.

In February, Cyprus concluded a $ 262 million arms deal with France for short-range "Mistral" portable air defense systems and "Exocet" anti-ship missiles. The agreement also obligates France to modernize the limited Cypriot air defense capabilities.


Egypt also described it, "Forbes", as a "customer of French arms", as it concluded several deals with France to buy "Rafale" aircraft, as well as 4 "Gwind" corvettes, a multi-purpose FREEM frigate, and two amphibious attack ships "Mistral" .

"As long as these territorial disputes continue with Turkey, it is unlikely that France will suffer from a shortage of arms customers in the eastern Mediterranean," the magazine concluded.