THE NATIONAL HERALD
https://www.thenationalherald.com/26...ilitary-equal/

AHVAL
https://ahvalnews.com/greece-turkey/...reign-minister


ATHENS – With Turkish provocations in the Aegean, East Mediterranean and invasion of Syria to get at the Kurds spiking fears of a conflict and prospects of millions of refugees heading to Europe and Greek islands, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias warned Turkey not to underestimate the resistance of Greeks.

Pointing to growing ties with the US – but with US President Donald Trump sending mixed signals by pulling US troops out of Syria to give his “friend,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a free hand there, Dendias reminded Greece has a defense agreement with America, which wants more military bases in the country besides the naval installations of Souda Bay on Crete.

“We regard Turkey as an equal. If Turkey has the illusion of being a powerful (state) addressing a powerless interlocutor, it’s making a big mistake,” Dendias said in an interview with Kathimerini’s Sunday edition.

With Greece slowly clawing its way out of a 9 1/2-year-long economic and austerity crisis, he said the country is still willing to back Turkey’s hopes of joining the European – which began in 2005 and have faltered with Erdogan’s purging of the military and civil society in the wake of a failed 2016 coup attempt against him, but only if Greece’s neighbor drops its “gunboat diplomacy.”

That was in reference to Turkey constantly putting fighter jets into Greek airspace, warships off Greek islands and drilling for energy off Cyprus where Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom are guarantors of security.

Dendias said Greece and Cyprus have locked arms against the Turkish drilling in parts of Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) it doesn’t recognize. Turkey also won’t recognize the legitimate government of Cyprus, a member of the EU, and has occupied the northern third of the island since unlawfully invading in 1974.

An upcoming European Council and Foreign Affairs Council will at possibly discussing toughter sanctions against Turkey after issuing soft measures over the drilling but unwilling so far to risk Erdogan’s wrath as he said he would flood Greece and the bloc with millions of refugees who went to Turkey fleeing war and strife and economic misery in other countries.

The Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement (MDCA), signed during the recent visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, will benefit Greece in terms of military know-how and infrastructure, said Dendias.

He said it would also strengthen the US presence in Greece, stressing that this is a “stabilizing factor in the wider East Mediterranean region,” unless Trump pulls the rug out, as he has with his increasingly erratic and unpredictable behavior.

Dendias welcomed US declarations countries must adhere to the principles of international law., which Erdogan doesn’t, and who has been invited by Trump to come to the White House in the midst of all the rising tension.“

Pompeo took this a step further. He called out the ‘cheater’,” Dendias said, referring to Turkey, who added that he’s not happy that Russia hasn’t taken a “a clearer stance” on Turkey’s violation of Cyprus’ sovereign rights.

But he also noted that Russia sold Turkey an S-400 defense system that NATO – to which the US, Turkey and Greece belong – said could undermine its own defenses but said nothing about it to Erdogan.

Dendias criticized efforts by Turkey to carve out an EEZ with Libya, while ignoring the existence of Crete. “Turkey’s unserious approach to the issue is not likely to succeed,” he said.