Only hours after the Turkish Minister of Defence, Hulusi Akar proceeded to reiterate the unfounded, revisionist claims about Cyprus and the Turkish invasion of the northern part of the island, Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis presented Greece’s red lines amid the escalating Turkish aggression during an interview with public broadcaster ERT last night.
Mitsotakis revealed the background to his recent meeting with Turkish President Erdogan in Constantinople on the day of celebration of Orthodox Sunday, saying he had stressed to the Turkish president that Greece would never enter a debate on island sovereignty. And, instead of the expected productive climate, as he said, Turkey unleashed a barrage of overflights over inhabited islands and then propagated unhistorical theories from top officials of the Turkish leadership regarding the demilitarisation of the Greek islands. In other words, as the Prime Minister put it, it was Turkey that “pressed the button” of the new escalation in the Greek-Turkish relations.
The Greek PM sent a message to Ankara, once again, that he was not going to be “baited” into a whirlwind of verbal confrontations with Mr. Erdogan or other Turkish officials. Hence, he did not comment on yesterday’s incident with Mr. Akar.
“It would be very easy, you know, for me – and I think I could have had a temporary political benefit inside the country – if I had adopted a similar rhetoric towards Turkey. I’m not going to do it. It would be a nationally irresponsible act to add fuel to the fire. I never confuse foreign affairs with domestic politics. And, consequently, I will continue with calm confidence to defend the Greek positions”, Mitsotakis underlined.
He also announced the strategy for the internationalisation of the problem, with a view to the forthcoming EU Summit, but also that of NATO in Madrid, “not with the intention of targeting Turkey and pointing the finger at anyone, but to explain why in this difficult time for Europe it would be a big problem for Europe, for NATO, for the United States to have another source of uncertainty and instability on NATO’s south-east wing.”
But Turkey’s reluctance to cease its verbal provocations indicates that the summer could be extremely ‘hot’, with many pundits fearing an escalation that could even result in an armed conflict. The Greek PM, however, rejected these scenarios, risking the assessment that Turkey will not choose to be further marginalized at this juncture.
Mitsotakis added, however, that because it was difficult to hinge everything on the above estimates, he stressed that the country is ready for any outcome. “We will do whatever it takes. And Greeks must feel completely safe that the country does not just have a strong deterrent capability, which I believe we have taken care to strengthen during these three years, but at the same time it has very strong allies.”
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