Greece is a peaceful Western country, but without being pliant and complaisant. Through deterrence and decisiveness it sends the analogous signals. Through constant diplomatic pressure, it reminds one that Greece’s borders are the EU’s borders.
It remains to be seen what will be the policy of the new German government, after the departure of Angela Merkel and the appointment of the Green party’s Annalena Baerbock as the country’s foreign minister.
The historic 23 November plunge of the Turkish lira was triggered by the decision of Recep Tayyip Erdogan the previous day to declare an 'economic war of independence'.
Not only with Erdogan and the neo-Ottoman dogma that he follows, but also historically, Turkey in every domestic crisis has proven that that it shifts and shapes it into a dangerous, extroverted stratagem.
The map, which depicts Erdogan’s neo-Ottoman ideations and foreign interventions presents as “Turkish territories” a long list of countries from the Balkans and Central Asia and Russia all the way to China with its Muslim Uyghur minority.
Sources say that the Joint Chiefs of Staff are closely coordinating with the chief of Greek Police and the chief of the Hellenic Coast Guard in order to ensure the most effective possible monitoring of the borders and deterrence.
The popularity of the once most popular Turkish politician is plummeting, and the economic problems of the “regional power” are constantly growing. Inflation and poverty are battering his working class base of support.
Erdogan has been harshly critiicised by the opposition Republican People’s Party and a segment of the Turkish media over his failure to secure a US commitment on how Ankara will recoup the $1.4bn that it has paid for the purchase of American next-generation F-35 joint strike fighter jets.
Erdogan has repeatedly said in the past that the French president is in need of psychiatric evaluation, has lambasted France’s historic role in Algeria, and has gone as far as to urge his compatriots to boycott French products.
'President Biden reaffirmed our defense partnership and Turkey’s importance as a NATO Ally, but noted U.S. concerns over Turkey’s possession of the Russian S-400 missile system. He also emphasized the importance of strong democratic institutions,' the White House readout said.
The report says that Cavusoglu was on a trip to South Korea when Erdogan issued his instructions for the expulsion and that the foreign minister asked him to delay his decision until his return two days later, 25 October, so that they could discuss the matter both face-to-face.
On 18 October, the US Embassy in Ankara posted on its website the joint statement calling for the release of businessman, philanthropist, and rights activist Osman Kavala, whose imprisonment led to a ruling against Turkey in the European Court of Human Rights, which ordered his release.
The nationalist opposition, which for over a decade has been pushing Erdogan to claim “the islands that Greece occupied” now is pressuring him to send the Turkish seismic vessel Oruc Reis to research areas included in the illegal Libya-Turkey memorandum delimiting their EEZs.
“These issues in the Eastern Mediterranean cannot be resolved through military confrontation. It would be better for France to act as a mediator. France over the last two years has been behaving as a bully toward Turkey. This is unacceptable. Turkey is not a small country. It is a regional power,” said Gurdeniz .
Biden has made no secret of his consternation with Erdogan on a range of issues from his purchase of the S-400 Russian missile systems in defiance of the US to Ankara’s role in Libya, and its hostile and expansionary policy in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Though first and foremost his role is that of spiritual leader, traditionally the Archbishop of America also is the informal leader of the Greek-American community, which numbers about three million but carries greater political weight than its numbers would indicate.
Though Erdogan’s rhetoric was diplomatic, a far cry from his and his ministers’ frequent outbursts of late against Greece and Cyprus, he clearly articulated his core claims, which have been rejected by strong geopolitical players – the UN, the US, the EU, and Russia - as violating international law.
'I returned it [Hagia Sophia] to those who are its owners since the time of Mehmed the Conqueror,” he declared. “We determined our path well. Our path is not the same as theirs [the opposition]. Either I will take Byzantium or Byzantium will take me.'
“Athens’ argument is that cooperation with Ankara is necessary because the two countries and the broader region may suffer serious repercussions from a huge refugee flow from Afghanistan and so they are confronted with the same problem,” Greek government sources say.
Akinci made the bombshell statement in an interview with the Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen. He said the agreement would have put settlement talks back on track.
The diplomacy of kicking the can down the road is not merely counter-productive. It is deleterious. The previously much-touted “status quo” no longer exists. What is needed now is a fighting spirit, decisiveness, and flexibility.
Some analysts believe Erdogan’s maximalist position in support of a two-state solution is designed to achieve a loose confederation, (effectively Ankara’s position in prior settlement talks), definitively abandoning the UN's bi-zonal federation framework.
Ankara knows all too well that it will not suffer sanctions from the EU, due to Berlin’s stance on the migration problem, or from the US, due to Turkey’s important geostrategic position.
Erdogan's voters are repaid with nationalistic claptrap, with the aim of healing in this manner some of the economic wounds in the everyday life of Turkey’s citizens.
Over the last decades Greece and Turkey had alternating periods of lesser or greater tensions. Hence, a coldly calculated approach to diplomacy is one of the greatest advantages and the Greek side should cultivate it.
The two leaders reportedly discussed the migration-refugee issue and the Greek side underlined that the two countries can cooperate as long as the type of provocations we saw in March, 2020, are avoided.
Still, Turkey maintains the second largest army in NATO and remains a critical, regional US ally and undoubtedly the difficult path toward a modus vivendi is pressing for both sides.
Circumstances necessitate that we see this Summit as a restart of NATO, with Greece as an organic member, after the erratic Trump administration.
The main obstacle to an understanding has been the fact that over the decades Ankara has vastly expanded its claims against Greece, ranging from territorial claims to Turkey’s efforts to encroach on Greece’s (and Cyprus’) EEZ.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s five-hour visit to Thrace today naturally once again included references to a “Turkish minority”, including during his visit with the two illegal muftis of Thrace.
Aside from the EU [including Germany, which has always maintained a particularly friendly stance toward Turkey], Turkey's two-state proposal has been openly rejected by the US and Russia.
The era when Turkey developed its comprehensive aggressive strategy unhindered, ignored its past and displayed outbursts from high-level government officials with the air of a pampered child of great powers is over.
"Over the decades Armenian immigrants have enriched the United States in countless ways, but they have never forgotten the tragic history ... We honor their story. We see that pain. We affirm the history.' Biden said.
The defence of Greece’s rights and the strict invocation of international treaties and the obligations that they produce for all parties can bring only benefits.
In a Reuters poll, most economists had predicted no change to the one-week policy rate this week, but saw easing from around mid-year, to settle at 15% by year-end.
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