Until yesterday, Kyriakos Mitsotakis[/B] had decided not to pick up the gauntlet thrown at him personally by Tayyip Erdogan. And, indeed, Mitsotakis avoided personal references to the Turkish president and his ministers, who on a daily basis dynamite the climate. With a double intervention, however, at the Summit press conference and at the EPP conference, Mitsotakis sent clear messages to Ankara that the attempt to disturb the waters of the Aegean will not go unanswered.
"I have no intention to do any psychoanalysis or internal interpretation of the possible impasses in which the Turkish leadership has found itself. I will tell you again that Turkey's "arguments" are adequately deconstructed through the letter we sent to the United Nations," Mitsotakis replied yesterday, clarifying that Ankara should accept that "Greece has allies. It belongs to the European family, it has a strategic relationship with the United States and obviously has every right and obligation - I would say - to use its alliances to defend its own national interests."
And if some people were left in doubt, Mitsotakis came from the podium of the European People's Party conference in Rotterdam to make it even clearer. "We are a defensive force, but we want to send a very clear message that any sense of threat to our sovereignty will be punished in a very severe way," Mitsotakis said, drawing on words with particular weight. "What we cannot tolerate is a new version of historical revisionism, fantasies of lost empires and a projection of power that is not consistent with the international order which is based on rules." Mitsotakis, "slamming" Turkey on the doctrine of the Blue Homeland.
Why Turkey is "exploding"
Yesterday's harsh statements by Mr. Mitsotakis came in the wake of the absolutely revisionist intervention of Cavusoglu, who raised the issue of the demilitarization of 14 Greek islands, warning that otherwise Turkey will raise a sovereignty issue.
Athens' assessment is that the shift to nationalist rhetoric is dictated by the need for internal consumption in Turkey, as Mr Erdogan may have thought that "he can get away with it" without consequences. Competent sources also say that Ankara was particularly annoyed by the prime minister's visit to the US, but is of the opinion that the Turkish president will not "go to extremes" on the ground, since the economic consequences of instability will be considerable for the ailing Turkish economy, which is waiting like a "manna from heaven" for revenues from this year's tourism.
Internationalization
Turkey's insistence on revisionist rhetoric, however, leaves the prime minister no choice but to re-internationalize Turkish provocativeness. The first milestone will inevitably be the next summit in June, on 23 and 24 June, when Mitsotakis will raise the issue again and seek a clear condemnation of Turkish actions, as French President Emmanuel Macron did so unabashedly. This is because, as Mitsotakis says, the logic of equal distances from the Europeans is not allowed, something he said in his first one-on-one meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz yesterday.
The next stop and the most important, however, is the NATO Summit in Madrid, from June 28 to 30, where all the major players of the Alliance will be present and of course Mitsotakis, Erdogan and Biden. The Prime Minister's message is clear: no instability is allowed within the Alliance at this time. Because, as he put it yesterday in the EPP, "some in Russia would be very happy if this were to happen."
In Kos and Pserimos
In this environment of intensified Turkish provocative rhetoric, then, Mitsotakis has an interesting tour scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday. In the morning he will be in Kos, one of the islands that from time to time come under the Turks' crosshairs. Afterwards, and after meeting with local bodies and residents, he will take a coast guard boat to the coastal island of Pserimos with its 20 or so residents, where he will have the opportunity to meet the residents again. It will be recalled that Mitsotakis had also visited the small island in January 2017, when he also visited the island's outpost. This is, of course, a clear message that the State is next to the islanders and not only during the tourist season.
Source.gr
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Times
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Times
Source
