WASHINGTON, DC – On September 20, Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01), a member of the Hellenic Caucus, issued the following statement condemning Turkish President Erdogan’s remarks to the United Nations General Assembly:

“I strongly condemn President Erdogan’s inflammatory and blatantly hypocritical remarks at the United Nations General Assembly earlier today.”

“Erdogan’s speech was riddled with disingenuous claims and baseless accusations against Greece. He called for the world to respect the sovereignty and independence of nations, despite continuing to occupy the northern third of the Republic of Cyprus in violation of numerous UN Security Council resolutions, regularly violating Greek sovereignty with territorial overflights, and questioning Greece’s territorial claims in the Aegean. And he falsely declared that Turkey’s foreign policy is driven by the pursuit of peace and conflict resolution through dialogue, while he and senior Turkish officials have utilized increasingly bellicose rhetoric to threaten war against Greece.”

“President Erdogan falsely claims to be a strong ally of NATO despite continuing to possess Russian S-400 missiles, undermining alliance solidarity in the face of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, and threatening Sweden and Finland’s accession to NATO, and that is why I will continue to lead efforts in Congress to block the sale of F-16s to Turkey and hold Erdogan accountable for his actions.”

Background:

In August 2022, Pappas led a bipartisan group of lawmakers in expressing concern about recent reports that Turkey is considering further acquisitions of Russian S-400 missile defense systems.

In July 2022, Pappas secured an amendment in the House National Defense Authorization Act to limit the sale of F-16s to Turkey.

In November 2021, Pappas led a bipartisan letter expressing concerns about the sale of F-16s to Turkey.