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Oruc Reis
Stock Photo
Yesterday, Prime Minister Mr. Mitsotakis and senior Turkish officials exchanged messages that form the framework of contacts for the resumption of the Greece-Turkey dialogue, after the first move to de-escalate the tension, with the return of Oruc Reis to the port of A. However , it should be considered a “goodwill measure” by Turkey.
And the “de-escalation” cannot be considered as the step to which Greece must respond, accepting the conditions that Turkey wants to impose in a Greek-Turkish dialogue.
Turkey has completed the latest in a series of NAVTEX it had issued for illegal investigations in an area of the limitless Greek continental shelf and simply got busy, under pressure from the international community and obviously in view of the EU Summit from 24 to September 25, of not renewing and temporarily and geographically expanding the investigations of Oruc Reis.
As Turkish officials have previously dismissed statements by Turkey that it would expand NAVTEX and send the research ship closer to Kastelorizo, there is a risk that T. Erdoγan will be seen as a “goodwill gesture.” the Turkish ship escorted by the Fleet to violate the Greek continental shelf … only for a month and only at a distance of 32 miles from Kastelorizo.
With this tactic, Erdogan will go so far as to demand compensation for this move.
All the Turkish movements are part of the tactics chosen by Turkey to march towards the Summit. This is how it wants to facilitate Berlin and the friendly countries of Ankara who want to avoid at all costs the imposition of harsh sanctions and the breakdown of Turkey’s relations with the EU. It is no coincidence that a day after the Euro-Mediterranean Conference in Corsica, the Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez had a telephone conversation with Erdogan to “improve relations between the two countries”, the same day that Italian Foreign Minister Di Maio had a telephone conversation with M. Tsavousoglou, who received the Maltese in Antalya the next day. Foreign minister
Now, with Oruc Reis in the port of Antalya and while the violation of the limitless Greek continental shelf has been going on systematically for a month, while threats of war continue to be launched by Turkish officials, Greece will be in a particularly difficult position as it will have to to convince. on the need to decide on the sanctions that will be activated when Turkey tries to repeat the challenges.
It will also be a difficult choice for Greece, since until then Berlin has reiterated, as expected, its mediation, to take a position on the issue of the sanctions requested and promoted by Cyprus, which of course sees the Turkish investigation Barbaros and the platform drill Yavuz. continue to violate your sovereign rights. The de-escalation with the departure of Oruc Reis does not mean, of course, that the problems are being solved, nor should this measure be binding on how Greece will position itself from the beginning on the issue of sanctions promoted by Cyprus, although the institutions in Brussels just as the German presidency will want to send the debate on sanctions to the Greek calendars in general under the pretext of “not disturbing the climate of dialogue.”
The intervention of the Secretary of State of the United States, M. Pompeo, with his decision to go to Nicosia and express “deep concern about the ongoing activities of Turkey, which explores the natural wealth in areas where Greece and Cyprus have jurisdiction in the Mediterranean Oriental”. and establishing the peaceful and dialogue-based search for maritime demarcation also played a role in Ankara’s decision not to renew NAVTEX, as excessive challenges were perceived to create an increasingly negative impact.
Now an even more difficult stage of the crisis begins, that of the mediators’ attempt to open or show that a window of dialogue between Athens and Ankara is opening.
The de-escalation is evident that gives encouragement to Athens and the Armed Forces that were tested, especially in the Navy that reached the limits of resistance of personnel and ships. But anything less can lead to complacency, as the NAVTEX issue is a matter of minutes and, of course, Turkey has not undertaken to refrain from illegal investigative activities.
Mr. Mitsotakis from Thessaloniki clearly sent the message that Greece is ready for a dialogue on the delimitation of the Maritime Zones of the EEZ and the continental shelf without setting conditions. Because it is obvious that the reference to International Law and the customary nature of the Convention on the Law of the Sea and at the same time the indication that if this dialogue is carried out in good faith but does not lead to its existence, the remission of the The Hague dispute, of course, cannot be taken as “preconditions”.
The Turkish side, although it accuses Greece of setting terms and conditions with monotonous statements, is the one that tries to load the dialogue with various questions to take it to its measures, at the same time nullifying any attempt to find an honest solution. Because Ankara’s insistence on bringing to the table a problem of demilitarization of the islands and a problem of minorities in Thrace is clearly strengthening the dialogue even before it begins. Much more so if you insist on your tactic of raising the issue of “gray areas” in the middle of a dialogue.
Since the text of the written agreement reached between Athens and Ankara mediated by the Germans on the terms of the resumption of exploratory contacts has not yet been made public, at least the party leaders will have to know the terms under which Greece will enter into dialogue with Ankara. Otherwise, this process will be blamed from the start and will be the victim of conspiracy theories and misinformation and vulnerable to any game of tactics through leaks, which the Turkish side is used to.
However, such an agreement cannot in any way include a moratorium on the avoidance of movements and initiatives that would equate unilateral, arbitrary and illegal Turkish movements with the exercise of legal rights by Greece.
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