Turkey's rebuke through the European Council conclusions left Athens and Nicosia completely satisfied, but it is not enough to stop the endless crisis in Greek-Turkish relations. A crisis started and maintained by the Turkish President, more to create impressions at home than to counter Athens on substance.
This is not the first time that the "27" have asked Ankara to comply with international law and respect the sovereignty and sovereign rights of member states. For years the Council has been making this call to the Turkish government over its provocations against Cyprus on land and sea. But, as history has shown, no such reference has been enough to stop Turkish actions.
So now it is not expected that Erdogan's ear will sweat[/B], who shows no sign of intending to turn around and move towards de-escalation. The path the Turkish president has chosen leads to the culmination of the diplomatic crisis.
This will not be long in coming if he finally puts his words into practice and makes a... denunciation of Greece at the upcoming NATO summit in Madrid next Wednesday and Thursday. It will be the first time Erdogan and Mitsotakis will meet face to face since the targeted outbreak of the artificial crisis. President Anastasiades will also be in the Spanish capital, who will attend a dinner that the 27 European leaders will have with the leaders of the NATO member states.
As Erdogan himself leaked to Turkish media, he plans to denounce Greece at the NATO summit for its alleged aggressive actions and the militarization of Aegean islands! If he does so then we will witness his political "suicide", as even he himself knows that his completely absurd claims and direct questioning of the sovereignty of Greek islands cannot find international support.
This position is also shared by sources in the Greek government, which, however, should not rest on its laurels as the chances of the Turkish President taking this step are slim. The Greek delegation at the summit should be ready to refute any argument that Ankara might put on the table to convince.
Athens will have no difficulty in convincing that the problem in our region is Turkey's revisionism, which with characteristic ease threatens a casus belli in order to promote its expansionism to the satisfaction of its extreme voters. In any case, the Turkish narrative is being refuted, as we wrote earlier, by history itself, aspects of which the Turkish president pretends did not exist.
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Times
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Times
Source
