Searching For a Common Path For Ankara and Athens
Ali Tuygan
For decades, Turkish-Greek relations have been characterized by longer periods of foggy weather and shorter periods of sunshine. Between the years 1997-2001, I served as Turkey’s ambassador to Athens. Fortunately for me, those four years were characterized by a short storm followed by a long sunny season.
The relationship hit the bottom in February 1999 with the Öcalan crisis. Later in the year came the Marmara and Athens earthquakes energizing the process of dialogue launched after the capture of the PKK’s chief in Nairobi. The two countries helped each other deal with the challenges of tragedy. Greek rescue and medical teams arrived in Turkey. Turkish rescue teams rushed to Athens after the September 7 earthquake. Foreign Ministers Cem and Papandreou successfully seized the opportunity to set a constructive bilateral agenda. Mutual visits, cultural exchanges multiplied. Trade between the two countries expanded. Eventually, however, the usual weather returned. Today, we are no longer in the comfort zone.
At present, the global agenda is largely defined by the strategic competition between the US, China, and Russia regardless of its alternative cost. But other countries pay a price as well, the latest example being the Ukraine crisis.
For more than a decade the Middle East has been afflicted by the failures of the Arab Spring. Syria, Libya have become battlefields for external powers. Armenia and Azerbaijan are still after lasting peace. Developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina have created concerns about a new period of turmoil.
Most of the world’s conflicts, some armed others luckily not, are among neighbors. They are about territory, borders, economic and political interests, power, threat perceptions. Some have an ideological dimension. If neighbors in conflict are located in unstable strategic regions, involvement of other neighbors is likely; involvement of major powers is a 022certainty. Over time, some turn into frozen conflicts. But all conflicts, especially armed ones, come at a price. They result in loss of life, displacement of peoples, undermine economic and political progress. Their impact transcends borders in the form of migration and refugee problems. In other words, regardless of the size, the location, or the name of a “region”, ensuring regional peace and stability is of paramount importance particularly among neighbors, particularly if they happen to be allies.
The end of the Cold War left Turkey in the middle of three conflict areas, and we paid a high price for disputes in the emergence of which we had no responsibility.It goes without saying that for our involvement in the Syrian conflict for which we are paying and will continue to pay an extremely high price, we have no one but our government to blame.
In recent years, Turkey’s democratic decline and self-inflicted diplomatic isolation have led its regional competitors into new partnerships on maritime jurisdiction areas in the eastern Mediterranean, leading to new tensions between Turkey on one side, and Greece, Israel, and Egypt on the other.
Moreover, on October 14, the US and Greece signed an agreement renewing their defense cooperation. During the signing ceremony, Secretary of State Blinken said,“This strategic dialogue is a signal of our shared commitment to deepen our partnership on the most urgent challenges that are facing both of our countries but also the entire region and, in many ways, the world.” At the time, his reference to the “entire region” and “the world” had caught my attention.
In an interview in December, US Ambassador to Athens, Geoffrey Pyatt said, “In Alexandroupolis the US military has invested to enhance the capacity of that port, and I think you will see very quickly additional use of that port by US military assets seeking to move forces into and out of the Black Sea and central European region.”
On December 3, “Another incredible day and milestone in Alexandroupoli welcoming the largest shipment of US equipment in history as the port grows as a lynchpin of the US-Greece defense & security relationship & a key gateway to the Western Balkans and the Black Sea region,” tweeted the US Embassy in Greece.
A week later, according to TASS, Kremlin Spokesman Dymitry Peskov,commenting on Moscow’s concerns about the renewal of a defense cooperation agreement between Greece and the US said: "The sticky part is very simple. You’ve got more and more NATO soldiers, American soldiers on your territory. You transfer hundreds and thousands of military equipment units through Alexandroupolis and so on and so forth. You’re opening new facilities for NATO.”
On January 14, Foreign Minister Lavrov, responding to a question on Russia’s relations with Greece, at a news conference on Russia’s foreign policy performance in 2021 said:
“I recently met with Nikos Dendias… These relations are extensive across all areas, including security. We touched on the topic of new steps that have been taken in US-Greek relations to upgrade the status of the port of Alexandroupolis for the purposes of the US Navy. We read about how the Americans plan to use it… I understand that Greece is a member of NATO and an EU member. But we also see that Greece does not want to follow the path of tougher anti-Russia sanctions. The republic does not really enjoy what is happening now between the West and the Russian Federation. We trust our Greek friends that they will use their wisdom to make choices that answer their convictions.”
I know that Greece and Russia have always enjoyed a strong relationship and Greek membership in NATO has never led to questions or expressions of concern by Moscow. The signing of an agreement between Athens and Washington to renew the defense cooperation between the two countries could in no way change that. But, considering the importance Russia attaches to the Black Sea region, the arrival of the largest shipment of US equipment in history in Alexandroupoli appears to have made a difference. But the increased use of this port has also been linked to Greece’s desire to ensure greater US support vis-à-vis Turkey.
On January 25, President Macron and Chancellor Scholz had talks in Berlin to take up the Ukraine crisis. So, one may ask, why Turkey and Greece would not consider holding similar consultations to see how the rising Russia-West tensions impact their security and reach a common understanding on challenges of the day. This is the dictate of their being neighbors and allies.
A year ago, Greece, the Greek Cypriot Administration, and Israel signed a deal to build a 1,900 km. subsea pipeline (EastMed Gas Pipeline) to carry natural gas from Israel’s Mediterranean gas fields to Europe. On January 11, Reuters, quoting Greek government sources, reported that the US has expressed some misgivings on the project. Concerns about the feasibility and financial viability of the seven-billion-dollar project had been heard before.
Hopefully, Greece, Israel, and Turkey would now take a fresh look at their relations in the light of their long-term interests since this is the dictate of cooperation between neighbors.
Last summer, forest fires devastated Turkey’s Turquoise Coast. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government acknowledged that it did not have firefighting aircraft. The question “why not?” remained unanswered. By all indications, the government was not prepared for such a tragedy. Greece also experienced forest fires, “a natural disaster of unprecedented proportions" in the words of Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Again, such problems call for cooperation between neighbors.
During my years in Athens, I tried time and again to explain to my Greek friends that the so-called “Turkish threat”, so deeply ingrained in the Greek mind, is a hollow premise, that we have other worries with greater urgency than our problems with Greece. I do not think that I was able to make a difference, but I sincerely tried, nonetheless.
At the present juncture, Turkish-Greek relations are far from satisfactory, following their roller-coaster pattern. Thus, analysts on both sides continue addressing the problems of maritime jurisdiction areas, islets, rocks, and airspace. Because they have no other option. What traps them in such a narrow alley is the lack of a broad understanding as to what the two countries can accomplish together if they were to put the Aegean questions aside for a decade or two and engage in a multitude of other fields which would serve their common interests. When Western nations are united in calling on Russia to de-escalate and engage in diplomacy, the path for Greece and Turkey, two NATO allies, cannot be anything but that.
If they were to do that, they would see that sky is the limit. And perhaps such an “interregnum” or “moratorium”, which is not a new idea, would enable our Greek neighbors to rethink the overarching issue: the implications of the string of Greek islands along Turkey’s Aegean shores. Because many in Greece see them as a wall, similar to the Great Wall of China, separating the Anatolian landmass from the Aegean. And, unfortunately, until this perception changes, the two neighbors and allies would remain at loggerheads for decades to come.
It is high time for Greece and Turkey to either resolve or at least temporarily shelve their differences and focus on the greater security challenges beyond their borders and what a strong partnership could offer them.
January/28/2022
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