Two sides of the sea

Meanwhile, across the sea in Turkey, the newspapers are highlighting domestic problems and there is only small mention of Greek claims in the Aegean and a denial issued by the Turkish General Staff headquarters, saying Turkish planes have not harassed a civilian plane over the Aegean. In short no one is aware or bothered about Greek claims of increased tensions in the Aegean. There is no war mania or even any hint of tensions in Ankara.

So what is going on?

Everyone is baffled simply because some people in Athens are saying one thing and doing something else.

We are told the European Union member countries are really fed up with the Greeks who, diplomatic sources say, keep bringing up the problems with Turkey in all European forums behind closed doors and complain all the time. They feel Greece has simply abused its presidency in a campaign to bash Turkey behind closed doors while it publicly claims it is promoting friendly ties with Ankara and is promoting its membership in the EU.

Turkish air patrols in the Aegean have been going on for years and are continuing at the same pace as ever. They will continue in the future as long as Greece claims the Aegean airspace belongs to it and tries to shut out Turkey from the region. If the Greeks got their way several years ago they would have increased the territorial waters of their islands spread across the Aegean, a few miles off the Turkish coast, to 12 miles from the current 6 miles and thus Turkey would have been effectively shit out of the Aegean. Turkish ships would not be able to sail out of any port without entering Greek waters. Turkish planes would not be able to fly into the Aegean without Greek permission. Turkey told friends and foes that this would be a cause of war and Greece has not been able to take such a step. The Greeks, however, claim their airspace is 10 miles and thus, once you enforce this over the islands again, Turkish planes are shut out of the Aegean.

Would any country in Turkey’s position accept this? So Turkish planes have to fly over the Aegean in the areas outside the Greek six-mile territorial waters and show the flag.

The only way out of all this is for Ankara and Athens to put an end to these superficial displays of friendship and get down to real business of discussing outstanding issues, like the Aegean problems — from the continental shelves dispute to the illegal arming of the Greek islands. We need to sow the seeds of real friendship, because by making boat tours and paying sirtaki the real problems will not go away.

Greece should not seek to blackmail Turkey with the EU card because that would only lead to a solution that will not satisfy the Turkish public and will eventually sow the seeds of a real confrontation between Ankara and Athens.