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Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Friday that Greece does not seek Türkiye's permission for its maritime and defense initiatives, vowing that Athens will not negotiate maritime zone boundaries with Ankara "from a position of weakness."
Speaking in an interview with Greek broadcaster OPEN, Mitsotakis rejected criticism that Athens limits its actions out of concern for Turkish reactions.
"I don't see us asking any permission to connect our islands. We didn't ask permission to create the marine parks, for maritime spatial planning, or to start the process of hydrocarbon exploration south of Crete," he said.
Asked whether he was concerned that Ankara's expected "Blue Homeland" bill aims to "Finlandize" the Aegean, Mitsotakis said, "I don't see us asking any permission from Türkiye at this moment. I don't see us asking permission to connect the islands, to create marine parks, to move forward with Maritime Spatial Planning, or to arm the Armed Forces."
He said press coverage in both Greece and Türkiye had exaggerated the issue with articles and maps, adding, "These don't help."
Mitsotakis said he did not know how Türkiye would respond to Greek moves but maintained Athens had matched them.
"I don't know what Türkiye will do. I know that we have responded to all of Türkiye's moves," he said. Still, he said defending Greek positions did not require constant friction: "We don't need to be in a state of permanent tension or excessive dramatization."
On the possibility of negotiations with Türkiye over the delimitation of maritime zones, Mitsotakis said Greece was not ready to discuss a final settlement.
"We are not at the stage of discussing a final solution to the issue of the EEZ and the continental shelf," he said, adding that "under no circumstances am I willing to negotiate from a position of weakness."
He pointed to the buildup of Greece's armed forces since 2019 and recalled that Türkiye was, at that time, set to receive 100 F-35 fighter jets.
"I want Greece to have such deterrent power that its sovereignty is never questioned. That is where we stand today," he said.
Mitsotakis also linked Greece's negotiating leverage to expanding its domestic defense industry.
"We want to produce our own defense technology. Greece must have such deterrent power that no one can question its sovereignty," he said.
On criticism of his foreign policy, Mitsotakis said, "I know that I am not liked by some, but there is the homeland after all. Not everything can be fed into the mill of party political confrontation."
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Mitsotakis declined to comment directly on whether the United States should sell F-35 jets to Türkiye.
"I don't want to say anything about the F-35s, because it is not my job to tell the United States to whom they will sell aircraft. Besides, right now, you know, the State Department itself has said that there are legal obstacles to selling the F-35s to Türkiye," he said.
He said the state of Greece's Armed Forces in 2019 had been "very problematic" after what he called "ten years of crisis," without attributing blame to a specific individual.
"In 2019, Türkiye was ready to receive 100 F-35s, 100 F-35s. Look at where we were then and where we are today," he said.
When journalist Giannis Kolokythas noted that Alexis Tsipras had called a potential Turkish F-35 acquisition a "national defeat," Mitsotakis responded, "It's the same Mr. Tsipras, during whose time Türkiye was buying the F-35s, and I don't recall him opening his mouth. Are you talking about the same Mr. Tsipras, or is it some relative of his, a twin brother?"
Mitsotakis said Greece and Türkiye were bound by geography to coexist.
"We are doomed to live side by side with Türkiye. The two peoples pursue good relations. We have differences, but we must not live in a state of permanent tension," he said.
Türkiye was suspended from the F-35 program in 2019 during U.S. President Donald Trump's first term after Washington objected to Ankara's purchase of Russia's S-400 missile defense system, arguing the system could compromise the jet's stealth technology.
Türkiye has maintained there is no technical conflict between the two systems, has proposed a joint commission to study the issue, and argues its suspension violated program rules.
At the Ankara summit, Trump said the United States would consider selling F-35s to Türkiye, describing Ankara as "in many ways much more loyal" than some other partners.
A State Department letter to Congress dated July 22, 2026, and obtained by the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, said Türkiye has not yet fulfilled the legal requirements necessary to rejoin the F-35 program.
The letter said Washington's policy remains unchanged and fully aligned with the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) and Section 1245 of the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), according to Kathimerini.
The White House requested that the State Department respond on the president's behalf, according to the letter. In a response to Democratic Congressman Wesley Bell, the department's Bureau of Legislative Affairs said no F-35 aircraft can be transferred to Türkiye unless statutory requirements are fully satisfied, including that Türkiye no longer possesses the Russian missile defense system or any associated equipment, provides assurances it will not acquire the system again, and meets all remaining certification requirements. "Turkey has not yet met these conditions," the department said, according to Greek media.
The department said it remains committed to ensuring any process to resolve the S-400 issue is "transparent, lawful, and consistent with" U.S. national security interests, while confirming that discussions between Washington and Ankara aimed at resolving the dispute remain ongoing.
Referring to Trump's meeting with Erdogan in Ankara, the department said it "will continue to engage Ankara on resolving the S-400 issue, while also strengthening our NATO cooperation."
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