Konstantinos Konstantinidis – Amphiktyon
These days, Ankara is being transformed into an international arms marketplace. Thirty-two heads of state, heads of government, and senior officials are gathering to conclude multi-billion-euro agreements on weapons systems and defense technologies.
The very leaders who proclaim every day that they are defending democracy, human rights, and international law are rushing to arm a country that continues to maintain occupation forces in Cyprus, threatens Greece with casus belli, challenges Israel, questions international treaties, restricts political freedoms, and imprisons political opponents.
Profit recognizes neither friends nor principles. In its pursuit of profitability, capitalism is constantly seeking new markets. The famous saying attributed to Karl Marx—that “the capitalist will even sell the rope with which he will be hanged”—seems more relevant today than ever.
History offers instructive examples. After the Second World War, the reconstruction of Europe and Japan created future economic competitors for the United States. Likewise, the transfer of technology to China contributed to its emergence as a technological and industrial superpower that now competes directly with the West.
Something similar may well happen with Turkey.
Today, Western countries are transferring advanced weapons systems, technological expertise, and industrial co-production capabilities to Ankara. The United States is providing support through the F-35 program and engines for the sustainment of the F-16 fleet. The United Kingdom is cooperating through the Eurofighter program and naval projects. Italy is contributing through its defense and aerospace industries. Spain is engaged in partnerships for the construction of major naval combat vessels. France is supplying advanced missile systems. Many other European countries are also competing for a share of a defense market worth billions of euros.
Turkey, however, is not merely buying weapons. It is acquiring know-how. And whoever acquires know-how will, sooner or later, seek to produce independently.
This is precisely Ankara’s long-term objective: to build a self-sufficient and powerful defense industry capable not only of meeting its own military requirements but also of exporting advanced weapons systems worldwide.
Today, foreign companies are going to Ankara to sell. Tomorrow, they may well return as customers of a new competitor whose rise they themselves helped to create. At the same time, they are doing business with a country that has contributed little to the Western Alliance while consistently pursuing a policy of balancing between opposing geopolitical camps.
Strategic thinking cannot be confined to the next balance sheet or the next electoral cycle. It must look two or even three decades ahead.
Turkey appears to be planning with a generational horizon, guided by the doctrines of the “Blue Homeland” and President Erdoğan’s vision of the “Borders of the Heart.” Europe, by contrast, too often thinks within the horizon of a four-year political term.
History teaches that empires do not collapse solely because of their enemies. Quite often, they arm their own future rivals.
Amid this geopolitical transformation, Greece continues to occupy the same historical position it has held for centuries: at the southeastern frontier of Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, serving as a breakwater against the turbulence of the wider region. This makes strategic foresight and national vigilance even more essential if Greece is to address any advantages that its neighboring country may gain.
Perhaps the time has come to speak openly.
8 July 2026
Amphiktyon
Major General (Ret.) Konstantinos Konstantinidis
Author – Member of the Society of Greek Writers
Amphiktyon Blog: http://www.amphiktyon.blogspot.com
Official Website: http://www.amphiktyon.org
