Themis Tzimas: Geoffrey Pyatt as Greek Prime Minister!

In Greece – or in our “’Great Circus’ to remember an unfortunately, still, so timely play” – tragi-comical phenomena are taking place. The super-loquacious American ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt, speaking as some sort of Greek prime minister, in his statements on television station Open claimed and announced that he considers that Mr. Mitsotakis will make the necessary compromises in order for everyone to return to their erstwhile preoccupation other issues instead of the Eastern Mediterranean.

The ambassador, as some sort of prime minister, announcedthe foreign policy of our elected government and described it as a policy of closing the problems in the region. This is not only an unprecedented intervention and institutional setback, but also the formulation of a policy, which indirectly or directly implies acceptance – partially or completely – of the Turkish agenda. Otherwise, what compromise is Mr. Pyatt talking about, when the government has already publicly claimed that it is only negotiating on the continental shelf and the EEZ?

Mr. Mitsotakis, who often confuses crucial terms, as a kind of caretaker prime minister, instead of at least demanding that Mr. Pyatt withdraw his statement, declaring that Greece has already made as many compromises as possible, is silent in front of the representative of the “big boss”. At the same time, Greece, and more importantly a right-wing government, is “selling off” Cyprus, saying through Mr. Dendias that it does not want sanctions against Turkey and that it is ready to negotiate with its neighbor on an unknown agenda.

And all this when Turkey:

• Continues illegal activities to the detriment of the Republic of Cyprus in terms of the EEZ.
• Is preparing to open up Famagusta and build new bases on occupied Cyprus.
• Declares that it will accept only a two-state solution in Cyprus and that the federation scenario is over.
• Demands from Greece that the President of the Republic not go to Kastellorizo.
• Demands about 150 islets and islands, even if inhabited.
• Actively promotes the formation of a doctrine laying claim to the Dodecanese.
• Claims co-management in Western Thrace.
• Requires disarmament of the Aegean islands.
• Maintains an active threat of war if Greece exercises absolute legal sovereignty over its territorial waters.
• Is threatening that the “Oruc Reis” will continue its research in due time.
• Is actively moving in order to extract from Egypt an agreement on EEZ unfavorable for Greece.
• Is surrounding Greece with naval facilities in Albania and Libya.

We have already stated 12 reasons, each of which alone would be enough to impose severe sanctions on Turkey. Without taking down these 12 reasons, any negotiation is doomed to failure, unless the Greek government is determined to reach a national debacle, as during the junta in 1967 with the withdrawal of the army division from Cyprus, and also in 1974.

Mitsotakis like Vucic?

Meanwhile, Mr. Pompeo is arriving to “scold” Greece over the Dendia-Lavrov phone calls and to prepare Greece will to sit on the “hot seat” that Vucic was made to occupy, who was repeatedly humiliated in the White House, accepting the NATO faits accomplis and bombings. It must be said as clearly and loudly as possible: any rupture of the bond between Cyprus and Greece – to an even greater degree – and the abandonment of Cyprus, no matter what happens, will be a national catastrophe for Hellenism and especially for Greece, as it will accelerates the “Cypriotization” of the Aegean.

Moreover, negotiations today with Turkey can only be done for the benefit of Germany and the USA and to the detriment of Greece, as long as at least the above 12 points are not revoked. By the way, these do not even include the pre-eminent issue, which is the ongoing invasion and occupation of Turkey by Cyprus.

The promoted negotiation, since it is not clear that it will be limited to one issue only – delimitation of the EEZ – aims to drag us on a gradually expanding agenda, in which case we will be charged any withdrawal, or we will be forced to surrender part of our national sovereignty. We are paying the price for the US consolation of Turkey. Otherwise, what exactly are we looking for before the Turkish intentions are clarified, if one thinks that they are not clear enough? The government should be careful, because at some point, foreign patronage and adventurism “bite” those who serve them badly.