[ad_1]
In an unusual incident for the diplomatic period, Athens solemnly “emptied” the NATO secretary general yesterday, who in recent days, embarrassed by the Turkish provocation and aggression in a member state, Greece, wanted to develop a mediation effort. Their movements appear to ignore key elements and features of the crisis and overlook the limited scope of their own intervention in an intra-eastern crisis, where each member state has a veto.
It is no coincidence that the Turkish Foreign Minister was quick to seize the opportunity and support the Secretary-General, stating that he “hopes that Greece will support the Secretary-General’s initiative” and that Turkey “is ready for a dialogue without preconditions to find solutions. fair and lasting “. in the context of International Law “, thus distorting the real image of who wants solutions through dialogue and who through power and threats. However, he recognized that the initiative of the NATO Secretary General” was not about solving bilateral problems between the two countries. “
Athens should not imply that it unconditionally accepts such a process, something that Mr. Stoltenberg took advantage of to present to the two military countries a proposal for certain points in an informal process, which was followed by sending electronic and telephone messages. by the Secretary General of NATO, who took the reservation of the parties to consider their proposal, as their acceptance, which he hastened to announce as an agreement.
“After my discussions with the Greek and Turkish leaders, the two allies agreed to initiate technical talks with NATO to establish military relief mechanisms to reduce the risk of accidents and accidents in the eastern Mediterranean,” Stolte said in a statement. .
This announcement provoked a strong reaction from Athens, which with an unusual move, through a statement from diplomatic sources, fired Mr. Stoltenberg:
“The information that has come to light about alleged technical talks in NATO does not correspond to reality. In any event, we have restrained the intention of the NATO Secretary General to work to establish de-escalation mechanisms within NATO. However, the de-escalation is just the immediate withdrawal of all Turkish ships from the Greek mainland. “
.jpg)
A little later, of course, there was a correction as there was a discussion with the Secretary General regardless of whether an agreement was reached and diplomatic sources in Athens were quick to clarify that “unilaterally inject a document with a request for comments within a week is by no means a dialogue. ” Obviously, this petition refers to Mr. Stoltenberg’s proposal to both parties and the subsequent attempt to clarify that there was no structured dialogue under Stoltenberg’s “initiative”.
However, any NATO involvement that is de facto limited in scope, given that Turkey has a veto in the Alliance, cannot be effective in the case of the Greek-Turkish confrontation.
The source of the tension and the risk of an accident that the Secretary General wants to avoid on his own initiative is not a general debate, but emanates from the revisionist policy of a Member State that seeks to impose its claims through the use of force and Threats. even against another Member State. Therefore, in this crisis, Greece does not need the transformation of the Organizations in which it participates into “neutral mediators”. And if NATO cannot address the cause of the tension, it is better not to deal with it, becoming Pontius Pilate.
In any case, Mr. Stoltenberg should have been explained from the beginning the acceptable limits to which his “initiative” can go to avoid such unpleasant situations. Obviously, he could not discuss a mechanism of this type that does not foresee the avoidance of unilateral actions on the ground, such as those that Turkey is doing with the ORUC REIS mission for research on an unlimited Greek continental shelf accompanied by the Turkish Fleet. .
Interestingly, despite the Secretary General’s efforts to avoid a debate in the North Atlantic Council on the Turkish challenges in the Eastern Mediterranean, this debate will finally take place next Wednesday, is expected to be extremely intense and will test resilience. of the Alliance. . The Council will not only encounter the Greco-Turkish confrontation, but Turkey’s widespread effort to change the status quo in the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa through military force, at a time when, although a member of the Alliance. .. is allying with rival strategists of NATO. And in this debate, of course, Athens will not be alone, but France will also have the main weight. A debate that will bring to the surface the problem of identity and orientation that NATO itself now has.
.jpg)
At the other level, the diplomat, the “persistent” German chancellor, finally managed to contact Erdogan by phone as part of the German initiative for Greek-Turkish. Em. Merkel, as at least according to the Turkish media, heard the furious Turkish president triumph against Greece, France, Greece, friends, the EU. and she practically wants to raise the bar to the level of the exchanges that will be offered to her to consent to the resumption of the dialogue with Greece.
For Athens, however, it is obvious that the dialogue, while Oruc Reis’s violation of Greek sovereign rights in the eastern Mediterranean is ongoing, cannot and does not make any sense.
After all, as the Turks predict (we hope the prediction is correct), the Germans and the EU “cannot be objective mediators who will maintain equal distances as they have an obligation to support Greece.” Even on the “questions that are right”, as Ms Merkel was quick to affirm without clarifying of course that we were wrong …
But if Berlin does not find a way in the next two weeks to substantially reduce tension and demonstrate its willingness to engage in dialogue with Turkey, it will find itself in the most difficult position, as it will have no choice but to agree on a decision to impose sectoral measures. strict. measures against Turkey. A development I just wanted to avoid …
[ad_2]
