2024-04-23 15:40:16
Ankara’s choice to maintain the rhetorical tension on the issue of marine parks at three different levels – Ministries of Foreign Affairs, National Defense and the ruling party – testifies to the decision not to misinterpret, even indirectly, the intransigent stance it maintains on Aegean issues, such as , of course, these have been shaped by Turkish diplomacy in recent years centered on the theory of “gray zones”. The return, via leaks from the Turkish Ministry of National Defense, of a response in the field in the event that Greece proceeds with the demarcation of marine parks, is the first time since February 2023 that Ankara has returned to indirect but not clear threats to use military force to the prevention of a right of Athens. On the Greek side, however, as Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis noted yesterday from Brussels, there is no question of changing the planned meeting in Ankara with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which will take place on May 13. In addition, the prime minister highlights the storm of the Turkish reactions, describing them as “unjustified”, as they concern environmental issues.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis described the Turkish approach as “unjustified” – The Prime Minister’s visit to Ankara will normally take place on May 13.
Turkey’s overreaction highlights, if nothing else, Ankara’s absolute adherence to the “gray zones” agenda, an ingrained suspicion of the state towards Greece and the West in general, as the declaration of marine parks is done in the context of possibilities that provided by the E.U. (including funding). Some in Athens wonder, in fact, why environmental initiatives such as this are not part of a broader version of the so-called positive agenda. Also, it clearly emerges that the infamous communication channels between Athens and Ankara are not as effective as is sometimes proclaimed. After all this, the milestones of the Mitsotakis-Erdogan meetings on May 13 in Ankara – as the Prime Minister stated will take place as usual – and on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington in July (9-11.7) become even more important, as they may serve to advance conversations that right now seem difficult on the face of it.
Mr. Mitsotakis characteristically said yesterday that “Greece exercises its sovereignty and sovereign rights in the Aegean based on international law and the law of the sea. Beyond that, I am also impressed by this completely unjustified reaction of Turkey for an initiative which, after all, has an environmental nature”. Mr. Mitsotakis underlined that, as he has promised, “Greece will proceed with the creation of these marine parks”. The prime minister also remarked that in his opinion “the improvement of Greek-Turkish relations, which is undeniable and measurable”, does not automatically lead to the working hypothesis that “Turkey’s basic positions regarding the critical issue of the delimitation of maritime zones in the Aegean and in the Eastern Mediterranean they have changed”.
Mr. Mitsotakis underlined that “these positions remain positions which are deeply problematic for our country”, however, as he said, “this does not prevent us from being able to discuss, form a general good climate and invest more in the positive agenda and less on the issues that divide us and on which we clearly disagree”.
Persistence in the theory of “gray zones”
Greece is not retreating from its sovereign rights, nor is it withdrawing from the Greek-Turkish dialogue, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said yesterday, among other things, commenting on the latest rhetorical escalation by the Turkish Ministry of National Defense regarding the creation of a marine environmental protection park in Aegean. “Our positions are given, our disposition to continue the dialogue is given, it is given that we are not retreating from our sovereign rights and it is also self-evident and we have proven it throughout history that our country deeply believes in resolving disputes, of one dispute, in this case the determination of EEZ and continental shelf, but we still have a long way to go based on international law and the law of the sea,” he said. The government representative even underlined that “all these actions, all these movements are clearly aimed at protecting the environment, they have a wider environmental character, all the movements of the country. And of course, Greece is a sovereign country that does not retreat from its sovereign rights and, in relation to the neighboring country, we continue and believe in the continuation of the dialogue”.
Athens responds to Ankara’s rhetoric with the firm position that it is not going to back down on issues of sovereign rights.
The statements of Mr. Marinakis were made shortly after the leaks from the Ministry of National Defense of Turkey that brought back the claim about islands and islets of “indefinite sovereignty” in the Aegean, in fact a few hours after similar remarks by the representative of the ruling AKP party, Omer Celik, before a party audience. “The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on April 8 that two large marine parks will be declared in the Aegean and the Ionian seas. Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs has taken the necessary diplomatic actions regarding the parks that are planned to be declared and has stated that unilateral de facto situations in the Aegean islands and islets whose sovereignty has not been determined (EGEAAYDAK) will not be accepted and will not bring about legal consequences” said, among others, sources of the Ministry of National Defense of Turkey, as reported from Istanbul by “K” correspondent Manolis Kostidis.
“As a ministry we remain vigilant in order to protect our interests, rights and interests in the Aegean to prevent Greece’s attempts to establish a unilateral regime,” the specific sources also said. It is recalled that the Minister of National Defense, in a conference, expressed the hope “that there are some limits to the irrationality of our neighboring country”, referring to the latest Turkish reactions.
Source kathimerini.gr
Vasilis Nedos