Issue No.
13380
Dogfights over the Aegean are a recurring source of tension between Greece and Turkey
ONE THING which Prime Minister George Papandreou and the Obama administration see eye-to-eye on is the utility of a Greek-Turkish dialogue on the Aegean.
But the prospect of such talks being held when Athens is economically and politically at its weakest and most vulnerable has raised concerns among opposition parties and foreign-policy analysts that Papandreou may be forced to make unacceptable concessions.
Papandreou’s willingness to discuss the Aegean after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s called for a broad-based discourse is in line with longstanding US policy.
‘Vital’
Ever since the 1996 Imia crisis, the US has openly advocated a bilateral dialogue to address Ankara’s territorial and other claims. A year later, the Simitis administration accepted that Turkey has “vital interests” in the Aegean.
Those interests were reaffirmed at a February meeting of Turkey’s National Security Council.
Despite their bitter feud, Turkey’s powerful military and the Erdogan administration agreed on Aegean and Cyprus policy. And though Erdogan has recently said that resolution of the Aegean issue will help limit huge military procurement expenditures on both sides, Ankara is making its territorial claims clear, vigorously pursuing a solution on its own terms.
However, Greece has never accepted the Turkish demands - viewed sympathetically by Washington and Nato - of essentially sharing control of the Aegean, from exploitation of natural resources to search-and-rescue operations.
Islands wanted
Furthermore, Turkey has openly laid claim to dozens of Greek islands in the Aegean. The country also disputes Greece’s 10-mile airspace limit and has threatened war if Athens exercises its right under international law to extend its territorial waters from six to 12 nautical miles.
Ankara also denies that Greece’s Aegean islands, in accordance with international law, have their own continental shelf (with the natural resources that go with it).
Turkish ruling party MP Murat Mercan, who chairs the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, told the Athens News that the two countries’ foreign ministers will soon meet to decide which issues to discuss first.
“We prefer that the whole Aegean problem be handled between the two neighbourly countries,” Mercan said. “If we do not reach a solution, then going to the [international] court is an option. That is what I think. I don’t know what the view of the prime minister is. I haven’t talked to him.”
ATHENS NEWS 10/07/2009, page: 6
