Ankara is engaging in an intensifying "war of nerves" against Athens on a daily basis, utilizing every available resource (even military exercises) in order to build any legitimizing bases both at home and abroad in relation to its maximalist and illegal claims.
Memory
In this context, Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to be in Izmir in person today, accompanied by his government partner - Nationalist Action Party (NAP) Chairman Devlet Bahceli, to jointly attend the final phase of the interdisciplinary multinational exercise "EFES 2022".
The presence of the government duo at the end of the first leg of the exercise today is of greater political interest because of the basic scenario of the exercise, which includes: landing and airborne operations, live fire, as well as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flights.
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Already, the propaganda videos, with which the Turkish Ministry of National Defence has flooded social media, show scenes of island invasion operations,[/B] but also parachute drops, for the needs to occupy islands and islets, which refers to Ankara's insatiable appetites for island space.
Black Anniversary
Although it is almost predictable that the Turkish President is expected to direct his verbal fire again frontally against Greece, the supplement, However, 100 years this year since the Asia Minor Catastrophe and with the events in Smyrna being the key link in the chain of uprooting and national tragedy, raises strong concerns about the real plans of the Turkish President, as his current presence at the "EFES 2022" exercise leaves open whether he is attempting to send a message of a "change of field", i.e. shifting the focus from the diplomatic to the operational level.
The fact that the Turkish President will be accompanied by his far-right partner, Bahçeli, intensifies these fears, as the latter has directly questioned - twice in the last ten days - the Greek sovereignty in the Dodecanese.
However, the Turkish President himself once again raised the tone yesterday, after he once again attacked the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, during his bilateral meeting with Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
"Although Mitsotakis said that we should settle the issue between us and that third countries should not intervene, in his speech to the US Congress he spoke against Turkey, as if we had not spoken to each other (meaning the meeting they had in Istanbul on 13 March). Then he did similar things in Davos. We do not say yes to a policy that lacks personality." Erdogan said, echoing largely familiar arguments, starting with the positive impact of Mitsotakis' trip to the US.
"Against whom?"
Moreover, the Turkish president pointed out that Greece "owes Europe 400 billion euros", yet European countries continue to provide Athens with military support and planes. The US does the same, he added, to ask himself: "Against whom?" (i.e. Greece is being reinforced).
The Turkish president also seems to feel deep annoyance regarding the expansion of NATO bases in the Alexandroupolis area, since "we supported the reintegration of France and Greece into NATO. And the US gave permission to establish bases against us, nine bases. I will not buy the claim that they have been installed against Russia. I will not swallow that argument," he added."
Δένδιας: Ankara to ensure calm
In the face of the now constant crescendo of provocativeness, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias yesterday expressed hope that Ankara will act and express itself according to a European course to which "the whole of Turkish society looks forward".
In a statement from Pristina after the end of his contacts with the Kosovar President, asked about the barrage of provocative statements by Turkish officials and his Turkish counterpart, Dendias said that strong language, provocative statements do not help.
"What the Turkish side should do is to refrain from such manifestations. It should ensure that there is calm and that our relations always move within the framework of international law, the international law of the sea and respect for the territorial integrity of our countries," he said.
At the same time, Nikos Dendias noted that he has always had the impression that a large part of Turkish society is looking forward to a European course for Turkey and expressed the hope that the Turkish government will share this desire of Turkish society and will act and express itself accordingly.
Sakellaropoulou: "Erdogan's rhetoric is inflammatory"
Greece's readiness to defend its sovereignty was also mentioned yesterday by the President of the Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou. As she stressed, "Greece, as it has proven, has long supported dialogue and good neighbourly relations, on the basis, of course, of respect for the principles of international law. But this presupposes that the same principles are respected by both sides."
Referring also to the neighbour, she argued that "Turkey does not always prove its credibility. It should therefore, on every occasion, prove that it is not what we would call a 'troublemaker', but one who is constantly causing trouble in South-Eastern Europe, but a reliable ally of ours in NATO." "In any case, we certainly support dialogue, even at this time when we are witnessing inflammatory rhetoric on the part of the Turkish authorities, the President, ministers and other officials," the President concluded.
The neighbouring country's attitude of arrogance and defiance with regard to Greece, however, buckled yesterday when Tayyip Erdogan's party spokesman Omer Çelik described the European Parliament report as "unrealistic and irresponsible", stressing that it was based on Greek positions on the Eastern Mediterranean, the Aegean and Cyprus.
He accused the EU of breaking promises, saying that "the European Parliament has again prepared a report on Turkey that is unrealistic and irresponsible. They showed an approach based on Greek views on the issues of the Eastern Mediterranean, the Aegean and Cyprus," Celik concluded.
Panagiotopoulos' "explosion"
Meanwhile, strict recommendations to Armed Forces officers regarding the confidentiality of information were made yesterday by Defence Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos, speaking in Parliament. Clearly irritated, the Minister chided the Armed Forces officials as information appears to be leaked from officers to local actors on the Aegean islands about the disposition of critical weapons systems.
Schematising the problem, he described how "the intelligence system looks like "Swiss cheese" and added that "I will raise the issue with the chiefs of staff about the Swiss cheese in the headquarters. The intelligence exercise makes no sense. It is a problem. Everyone is talking about it in coffee shops. Who? Officers? Petty officers? For God's sake. This is a point of concern," the Defense Minister pointed out.
At the same time, the US is not hiding the possibility that Turkey will carry out its threat by launching a new attack in northern Syria, despite Washington's warnings to prevent it, a US diplomat said.
In the same vein, the Undersecretary of State for the Middle East, Barbara Lif, expressed during a parliamentary hearing her government's "deep concern" over Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's threats against Kurdish fighters in Syria.
"We have increased our diplomatic contacts to try to stop it," he said. "We are making unremitting efforts to persuade the Turkish government not to go on this reckless adventure," he added. Asked further whether Ankara would abandon these plans because of U.S. efforts, the State Department official replied, "I'll be very honest, I can't give you that assurance."
Source: Proto Thema (By Georgia Sadana)
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