2023-06-04 09:53:41
“Better the devil you know” experts say when they talk about the re-election of Erdogan to the Presidency of the Turkish republic, with Athens keeping a small basket for the next day and insisting on the red lines it has drawn.
So far, calm waters prevail in the relations between the two countries and those who know well the field of Greek-Turkish relations estimate that this calm will be extended at least until the elections of June 25 and the swearing in of the government. Next stop, the NATO Summit at the beginning of July, where it is not excluded – if Kyriakos Mitsotakis is at the helm of the country – a meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which he has said he will pursue.
At the NATO Summit, however, the stake will be the inclusion of Sweden in the alliance for which Turkey “resists” citing terrorism issues, which Stockholm has not yet resolved, as it claims.
And everything shows that he will attempt a bra de fer with the West, pressuring the US to say “yes” to modernization and the F16 purchase, so that it too will be released from the veto on Sweden joining NATO. Many believe that this is one reason why Turkey has stopped the tension and provocative rhetoric towards Athens, in order to “calm down” the Greek lobby which strongly opposes the sale of fighter jets to the neighboring country.
On the other hand, of course, he cannot digest that Greece’s request to buy F35 is moving forward at a fast pace after the 4th signature entered a few days ago by Senator Jim Rees and what remains is the official green light from the State Department to Congress .
The first concern is the economy
The Turkish President, who was sworn in yesterday in a spectacular event, did not fail to mention the Blue Homeland, to talk about the need for Turkey to become more courageous, stronger and more active in its foreign policy.
“We promise to work with all our strength for 5 years to protect the glory and honor of the Turkish Republic, to increase its reputation and glorify its name in the world. We promise a Turkey that will be more courageous in every field, that will be stronger in protecting our rights and our interests in the Blue Homeland,” said Tayyip Erdogan in his speech at the Presidential Palace. This aversion to the doctrine of the Blue Homeland, however, is not the question for now for Tayyip Erdoğan, who has in front of him the… mountain of managing the economy, with the IMF knocking for the second time on the door of the neighboring country.
It is no coincidence that he gave the position of finance minister to Mehmet Simsek, who knows this particular portfolio as he had previously been economy czar between 2099-2015. Graduated from the Department of Economics in Turkey, with a master’s degree in Great Britain, while he also worked in the USA. He was a strategic analyst at Merrill Lynch and head of macroeconomic research for the EMEA region.
Except the “hard ones”
Tayyip Erdoğan left out of the cabinet the devotees of the conflict line with Greece, Hulusi Akar, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Suleiman Soylou. The state channel TRT “translated” this development as the desire of the “Sultan” for a new beginning in relations with Greece. “If Kyriakos Mitsotakis is re-elected, there will be continuity in diplomatic relations with Greece. He should work with someone, with whom he now has a personal relationship. It will be a great opportunity for the two countries to resolve their issues,” a TRT journalist pointed out, however we will have to wait and see in practice if these claims are verified.
For Athens, everything is put under the microscope, with Kyriakos Mitsotakis repeating in his interview on Proto Thema that the doctrine of the Blue Homeland is not easy to overcome, but the good climate created after the earthquakes with Turkey can be maintained, in based on the rules of international law, with one and only difference: the delineation of maritime zones.
Source thetoc.gr
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