The ongoing exploratory contacts with the Turkey, it is clear, despite all the diplomatic and other words used, that they are ’political consultations«.
Indeed, in addition to the aggressive identification of policies that also identify decisions, the discussions apparently concern the agreement between Greece and Turkey to «refer our national sovereignty to the Hague Court»...
At the same time, while it is known that in these contacts the Turkish side puts forward all its claims, from the Greek islands to Thrace, only issues concerning the definition of maritime zones are supposed to be discussed.
This is of course a lie in practice, when we know that when the previous round of the exploratory talks took place in Istanbul, in the palace of the Ottoman Empire (....), the Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu and the Minister for Defence Akar, they had talked about «political consultations».
The agenda as we understand it has no restrictions and this allows Turkey to raise any issue on the demilitarization of the islands, on the grey zones in the Aegean, on Thrace, on air and sea space, on the continental shelf, on the Exclusive Economic Zone, etc.
Moreover, even if there is no immediate result for Turkey, apart from the fact that it will have put everything on the table, while Greece will insist with suicidal tendencies on «we claim nothing», the immediate benefit for Turkey will be that in view of the EU summit on 25 March, it will be demonstrated that there is a «dialogue» with Greece and of course with Cyprus, with the preparation of the «five-party» meeting during Holy Week. That is effectively scuppering any possibility of sanctions against Turkey.
At the same time, and confirming the above, is the fact that even a few hours before the talks, Turkey delivered a diplomatic note to Greece, Israel and the European Union, demanding to be asked for permission for any activity in the area where it considers that its «continental shelf» in the Eastern Mediterranean extends, in essence the Greek continental shelf which it considers its own!
Last but not least: at the same time Turkey is negotiating with the European Union in terms of Ottoman sovereignty, the pact on immigration.
On the one hand, the new pact creates an attraction of flows, instead of a deterrent, and on the other hand it traps illegal immigrants on the Aegean islands and Evros.
Therefore, in order to keep the Schengen area intact so that there are no intra-Community controls, the management of migration will be transferred as a pressure to Greece.
With long land and sea borders and with Turkey instrumentalizing the flows to satisfy its expansionism, the new European migration pact comes to «help» Turkey and through it to deprive Greece of ownership of national territory!
Since the text of the Pact states that «the border procedure is completed and the right to enter the territory of the Member State: Where the asylum procedure is still in progress at the expiry of the deadline for the completion of the border procedure, the applicant is allowed to enter the territory of the Member State in order to complete the asylum procedure.».
In addition, the superstructures in Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Leros, Kos and Evros to serve this planning, will literally be cities of immigrants on the Greek-Turkish border and even by choice of the Greek state!
Characteristic is the excerpt from the speech of the rapporteur and MP of Larissa M. Charakopoulos to the Committee on European Affairs of the Parliament, in the presence of the European Commissioner Margaritis Schinas:
«No conditions are allowed that could potentially undermine our sovereignty. If some Europeans imagine Evros, Chios, Lesvos, Samos, Rhodes as a European “Ellis Island”, for us, these places constitute ancestral lands, whose existence guarantees our national sovereignty and freedom.
And that's something we don't negotiate with anyone. The creation of an unknown number of reception structures along our border territories will threaten our very sovereignty, and will be perceived as an indirect call for immigration.».
We hope that the attack that we were attacked by Turkey exactly one year ago here in Evros has taught us a lot...
By Theophanis Malkidis
