By G. Kampourakis
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Sunday’s much harsher reply by Athens to the latest verbal “fireworks” by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan marked a sharp departure from the Greek government’s recent low-key approach to continued Turkish provocations, especially in the eastern Aegean and even in Cyprus’ EEZ.
In using a term repeatedly employed by the most prominent critics of the increasingly authoritarian Turkish president, the statement issued by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ officer said “Greece has a prime minister and not a sultan”.
The caustic quip came after Erdogan again claimed that Tsipras promised to return eight Turkish officers and NCOs that have requested political asylum in Greece, after escaping from the neighboring country aboard a military helicopter a day after a coup fizzled out in Turkey in July 2016.
According to reports out of Athens on Sunday, Tsipras signed off on the statement after his government determined that Erdogan and official Ankara continue to use the same rhetoric after last week’s EU-Turkey summit in Varna, Bulgaria. At the same time, absolutely no progress was recorded towards receiving a specific court date or even a concrete charge sheet against two Greek servicemen that continue to be held in pre-trial detention in a Turkish border city.
The two men allegedly strayed into Turkish territory along the Thrace land frontier on March 1, 2018 during a routine inspection of a poorly demarcated border site. Although numerous such instances in the past – involving military personnel by both sides – were resolved in a matter of hours, and at the brigade level, this was the first time arrests followed and the matter transferred to judicial authorities.
Officially, the two men are held on a charge of entering a restricted (Turkish) military zone.
At the same time, the recurring claim by Erdogan that Tsipras personally promised to extradite the eight Turkish servicemen has been strenuously denied by the latter’s office. The leftist-rightist coalition government now appears to accept the position that Erdogan and Ankara are trying to “barter” the two Greek servicemen detained on the border with the eight Turks that Ankara asserts are participants in the 2016 coup attempt.
Government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos also referred to the sensitive matter on Monday morning, saying the continued incarceration of the two servicemen now “exceeds the limits”. He also said Ankara clearly wants to exploit the border incident for political reasons, saying this will prove ineffective and will merely exacerbate relations elsewhere.
