There is a series of serious statements that indicate a further deterioration in the Greek-Turkish relations. Here is what has happened:
The Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Tsavousoglou made a provocative statement on Friday saying that “If Turkey wants, we can sent troops on Imia; we did it before when we had to”, referring to the small Greek twin rocky-islets of Imia that Turkey claims along with at least 18 more Greek islands.
The incidents he refers to was the Imia Crisis back in 1996 when Turkish Special Forces troops landed on the islets. During the crisis a Hellenic Navy helicopter fell due to the extremely bad weather condition which cost the lives to three offices.
The Greek Minister of Defense, Panos Kammenos, when asked to comment to this statement, answered “They can get on Imia alright, but will they get out the island? I’d like to see how will they get out afterwards…”.
In less than 24 hours the Turkish Minister, without being asked by any journalist, answered in an insulting way to Mr. Kammenos by saying -without mentioning his name- that he is “a man with complexes” and Greece is a “spoiled” country that is destroying “bridges of Friendship” and it would be wise not to play with Turkey’s patience , as the Greeks can remember what the Turkish Army can do!
These statements were answered by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs as follows:
“When someone is unable to respond politically to the facts, he may well not understand them. He may not grasp the technical, legal and political aspects of the issues, and for this reason chooses to make personal attacks. Attacks that do not promote the relations between the two countries and are foreign to our political culture. One’s actions reflect on oneself”.
It is obvious that Turkey wants to export its internal political problems and as the date of the referendum is getting closer, Erdogan wants to play the nationalism card at the expanse of Greece in order to gain the result he wants.
We will have to wait and see how this situation will work out…
