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Looking at the S-400s, and while Turkey is delaying the start of exploratory contacts, but NATO’s disengagement mechanism is moving forward, Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is visiting Ankara and Athens, where he will meet with the first minister today. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Minister for Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias and Minister of Defense Nikos Panagiotopoulos.
On Monday (10/5), Stoltenberg met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoλουlu, who continued rhetorical provocations against Greece. Mr. Tsavousoglou in particular “nailed” Greece and France for taking their bilateral affairs with Turkey to NATO and accused Athens of sending warships to the Turkish mainland. However, he apologized to the Alliance Secretary General for choosing the S-400, claiming according to Sabah that Turkey wanted to buy a Patriot and that the Russian anti-aircraft system was a solution out of necessity.
It is recalled that the United States had threatened Ankara with sanctions for the purchase of S-400 and it is said that the American agent has been activated, with the visits of the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Nicosia and Crete, where he announced the permanent mooring of the USS Helicopter. Williams in Souda, after receiving information that Turkey activated the radars of the S-400 anti-aircraft systems to detect Greek-made F-16 fighters in the United States upon their return from exercise “Eunomia” off the coast of Cyprus on 27 August. .
The activation of the S-400 is said to be the (new) US red line, and Stoltenberg reportedly told Ankara that the US is threatening an embargo on the S400 as it threatens Allied aircraft.
And while Turkey continues to haggle and play two cards, trying to win by blackmailing the allies, Athens remains firm in the “policy of the most credible ally” of the United States and consequently of NATO in the Eastern Mediterranean.
It should be noted that today’s meetings between Stoltenberg and Mitsotaki and Dendia are the first after the minicrisis in the relations of the Greek government with the Secretary General of NATO, caused by the latter when On September 3, he had rushed to announce a Greece-Turkey dialogue under the Alliance, while Oruc Reis continued to cut roads on the Greek continental shelf. Athens had emptied the NATO secretary general and asked him to “collect” his statements. The dialogue, of course, continued meanwhile and Stoltenberg yesterday welcomed the creation of a Greek-Turkish communication line 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to avoid crises.
However, the Greek side, while naturally characterizing a disengagement mechanism, focuses mainly on the political level and the practical and stable de-escalation of Turkey. It should be noted that a date for exploratory contacts has not yet been set and the delay is due to Ankara, with Athens considering that the Turkish government is training the initiation of contacts due to the very positive outcome of the European Council in the Palace of the Maxims.
What will Mitsotakis tell Stoltenberg?
Today, the Prime Minister is expected to reiterate to the NATO Secretary General that Greece expects a de-escalation practice from Ankara, but will also not take unilateral action from now on. He will also clarify that the framework for exploratory contacts is clear and concerns only the maritime areas, although Turkey is trying to put on the table the demilitarization of the Aegean islands and the gray areas, but also the issue of the Turkish minority in Thrace.
In the wake of the recent crisis with Stoltenberg, who is generally pro-Turkish, Mitsotakis is expected to denounce NATO’s policy of equal distances between Greece and Turkey.
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