Athens is alert in the face of Ankara’s irritation

By Penelope Galliou

In absolute vigilance and diplomatic and operational readiness, Athens is closely monitoring Ankara’s escalating provocation as well as its parallel backslidings, which, as government sources commented, reveal Turkey’s impasse and irritation towards Greece.

The “whip and carrot” tactic that Turkey believes it can apply against Greece and its allies seems not to bring the intended results, pushing the Turkish leadership to “back and forth” and into impulsive behaviors.

A typical example of the Turkish palinodes, the napproach of the Turkish Minister of Defense Hulusi Akar to the Greek side, who just a few days after his brief meeting with his Greek counterpart Nikos Panagiotopoulos in Brussels and the sidelines of the NATO Defense Ministers’ Council, made an “opening” again to Greece, stating that the Turkish side is ready to meet with Greek. While a few hours earlier two other top government officials of Turkey, Erdogan’s “instead” in the presidency, Ibrahim Kalin and the representative of the Turkish president’s party, ranted against Greece, issuing new threats of invasion and spewing the usual lies about the sovereignty of Greek islands.

In this contradictory environment, the Turkish Defense Minister in his new statements he pointed out that the problems in the Aegean “can be resolved through mutual negotiations”, stressing however that Turkey will not accept any “fait accompli”.

“We persistently maintain the approach that the problems in the Aegean can be resolved through mutual negotiations. Everyone should know that we will not allow a fait accompli. We follow a responsible common sense policy. We are ready to meet,” said Hulusi Akar. At the same time, however, he brought back the non-existent request for the division of the Aegean, noting that Turkey is in favor of “the Aegean being a sea of ​​friendship and fair distribution of all wealth. Turkey is a safe ally, it is not a threat to anyone,” he claimed.

Decoding Turkey’s stance is sure to be multi-factorial even for tough solvers, with the overriding question in every Turkish reaction, be it aggressive incendiary rhetoric or temporary moves of rapprochement, being one: where is Ankara going?

In any event, the strong card of the Greek side is the fact that the mobilization and internationalization of the problem with our neighbor to the east, finds receptive ears in the international community and in our allies and partners, resulting in attempts to slander Greece on its part Anchor to fall into the void.

Moreover, from the first moment of the escalation on the part of Turkey, Greece made it absolutely clear that Turkish moves are under the microscope and whenever and wherever necessary it will get the appropriate responses.

According to analysts, Turkey’s irritation and embarrassment is exacerbated by the freezing of its armaments by the US and the resounding American presence in Greece, while it is estimated that the maintenance and promotion of tension with Greece also works for internal consumption, but at the same time, it is attempted with this tactic to pressure the west and our country’s allies to push Athens into an unconditional dialogue with Ankara. Turkey’s test launch of a short-range ballistic missile over the Black Sea is believed to have had this goal, attempting to send a message of power and pressure.

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