Turkish Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar met with journalists after the NATO Defense Ministers Meeting held in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. Hulusi Akar stated that there are consultations, separation procedures and confidence-building measures between Greece and Turkey and said, “Positive negotiations are taking place. Positive actions are being carried out. We think that these actions can start in the coming period. Our delegations went to Athens twice, Greece, the delegation of Greece once came to Turkey. Therefore, we talked with our friends and expressed that we were waiting for the Greek delegation to Ankara for the fourth meeting between the two countries.”
Akar also addressed the F-16 deal with the US and Turkey, adding that there are alternatives to the F-16. Reminding the statements of the US Department of Defense supporting Turkey on this issue, Akar said, “We consider that with the resolution of this, our relations will move to a better stage. Our cooperation and solidarity, together with the purchase of these F-16s, will increase our cooperation and solidarity both regionally and internationally. We all see that it will also make significant contributions to global peace and security.”