Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has been making a special effort to increase the tension between Turkey and his country for a long time. Greece, which has expanded its defense cooperation areas with the United States (USA), now seems to have preferred to act with the self-confidence that this agreement provides.
It seems as if Mitsotakis was swept off his feet by the fact that he was a foreign country leader who received perhaps the most applause in the US Congress. Even though his big sentences are empty, he doesn't hesitate to put everything in order to pretend to believe in what he says and to give a determined image.
Finally, he went to Southern Cyprus just yesterday and said, “Ukraine is experiencing the tragic experience of Cyprus in 1974. We must not let Donetsk and Mariupol become Kyrenia and Famagusta,” he said. On the other hand, he stated that he "indisputably rejected the demands for a two-state solution" on the island and said, "This does not fit the reality or structure of the 21st century. "The green line is a line of shame that should eventually be erased," he said.
Do you see these sentences? Notice the imbalance in these comparisons? What do you think Miçotakis is trying to do with statements in which historical facts are so distorted? Where else do you think he got his courage besides filling his lands with US bases?
At this very point, I would like to state the following, taking shelter in the understanding of those who say, "Are you criticizing the government here, too?" Because some mistakes are very difficult to correct. Foreign policy maneuvers without future planning can cause permanent damage to countries. Unfortunately, Turkey undersigned these wrong maneuvers in Cyprus.
Well, let's remember how the process that gave Miçotakis such courage to speak started for Turkey.
First; Mismanagement of the Annan Referendum by Turkey both on the island and within the country, failure to give proper answers to the allegations that Cyprus was sacrificed to the EU.
Second; With the expectation that chapters will be opened for European Union membership, the necessary steps are not taken against both Southern Cyprus and making it an EU member under the name of the Republic of Cyprus 1 week after that referendum.
Third; While Greece and Southern Cyprus are signing regional cooperation agreements with countries such as Egypt and Lebanon, Turkey is unfortunately deceiving itself with "precious loneliness" in the mood of "I'm offended, I'm not playing".
Now naturally Turkey is reacting. Except for the statements such as "It's over for me" in diplomacy, it wouldn't help anyone, but justified reasons are expressed in the meetings. However, the addressee is not Greece. As will be remembered, Mitsotakis had made statements such as "We succeeded in turning the issues between Turkey and us into EU issues". Greece thinks that it has taken shelter under the double umbrella protection shield by taking the EU and the USA with it. That's why he happily greeted the US's move from Incirlik to Alexandroupoli by playing sirtaki.
On the other hand, as it is known, after the Russia-Ukraine War, the USA, which put different destinations on the agenda for the gas flow that Europe needs, withdrew its support for the high-cost EASTMED project for Mediterranean gas. With this step, Turkey and Israel got closer, and it was claimed that Turkish territory would be used for the transfer of gas.
In direct connection with the NATO memberships of Sweden and Finland, the President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen, meanwhile, announced that "a tripartite energy agreement will be signed between the EU, Israel and Egypt to ensure more gas flow to Europe". In a sense, this statement was to remind Turkey of the costs of its veto.
Now, with this agreement, a natural gas pipeline will be established from Israel to Egypt and the natural gas liquefied in Egypt will be transported to Europe in this way.
In other words, they are giving the message that we do not need you in Turkey.
I am not sure if all these developments are being read correctly by Turkey. I also pray a lot to be wrong. There is a basic rule in diplomacy; You may have such overlapping interests with some countries and such overlapping interests with others. The important thing is to evaluate them correctly, to maintain your relations on a healthy basis, and thus to prevent the people in front of you from getting closer to each other. As a result of the wrong steps it took and the wrong decisions it took, Turkey indirectly supported the countries that had problems with Greece to meet on common ground. Even when the EU countries were having problems among themselves, a result emerged such as bringing them closer to each other, which had exactly the consequences against Turkey.
Now we are experiencing the handicaps of this. Of course, all these negativities can be overcome, but we should make foreign policy the policy of the state, not the government. The government should stop seeing this area entirely as an area for electoral investment as soon as possible.
By the way, there are elections in Greece next year. Greek parties always deliberately increase the tension with Turkey during election periods. In the elections, everyone takes what they get, gives what they give, and then there is a recession process. This has always been the case. I am sure there are sensible people in Greece who calculate the cost of confronting Turkey. They see that America and Europe will leave them alone in the final analysis. While we play the game according to the rules, let's make their voices heard more. You will see that after a while the stones will fall into place by themselves.