{"id":42987,"date":"2011-01-11T11:47:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-11T09:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.palmografos.com\/?p=42987"},"modified":"2011-01-11T11:47:00","modified_gmt":"2011-01-11T09:47:00","slug":"vivvo-8099","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.palmografos.com\/?p=42987","title":{"rendered":"Papandreou and Erdo\u011fan, parleying or campaigning? – by Ariana Ferentinou"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Since last Friday, a score of analysts on both sides of the Aegean has been trying to decipher the impact of George Papandreou\u2019s speech in Erzurum and the tough reaction of his Turkish counterpart. Did the two leaders \u201ctrade barbs,\u201d or did they confirm their policy of friendship?<\/span><\/p>\n

The Greek Prime Minister traveled to the ancient Eastern Anatolian city at the invitation of its municipality to open the facilities for the 2011 World University Winter Games, which are set to begin Jan. 27.<\/span><\/p>\n

But he was also the speaker before the entire diplomatic corps of Turkey during the third annual Ambassadors\u2019 Conference which took place in Erzurum at the same time. In the two speeches he delivered he spoke of partnership and brotherly friendship with Turkey. But, sitting side by side with the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan, he also spoke of Turkey as an \u201cinvasion force\u201d in Cyprus, and complained about the flight paths of Turkish fighter planes over the Aegean. \u201cYou cannot resolve problems with threats,\u201d he told the Turkish side.<\/span><\/p>\n

These statements gave Mr. Erdo\u011fan an opportunity to voice his own frustration and criticism. He complained that \u201chis country has long been subjected to treatment no other country was subjected to within the European Union,\u201d and blamed Brussels for \u201cteasing\u201d Turkey for half a century. In the end Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuto\u011flu found a middle way to assess this \u201chot and cold\u201d meeting of the two prime ministers. \u201cThe messages of the Greek prime minister were mostly about friendship and cooperation and the rest were Greece\u2019s known positions,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Was the Erzurum meeting a show of friendship or political maneuvering? The Greek side insists that a true friend is the one who talks to you straight to your face with open cards. The Greek opposition is weaving fascinating, conspiratorial theories over the \u201csecret agreements between Greece and Turkey under the auspices of NATO\u2019s management of the Aegean.\u201d Mr. Erdo\u011fan, too, received harsh criticism from the opposition for not responding appropriately to Papandreou. The leader of the main opposition party, Kemal K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu, spoke of a \u201chelpless\u201d prime minister who does not respond when a foreign leader \u201ccalls our army an invader.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There is no doubt that George Papandreou is the leader of a country in serious economic and social trouble, hence a sensitized, vulnerable society whose strong democratic traditions allow for powerful public debate. Even before the onslaught of the year-old economic crisis, the voting trends in Greece showed that the electorate was moving away from the traditional pools of the once powerful political parties.<\/span><\/p>\n

The impressive abstention from the ballot, as well as the election of many independent candidates not affiliated to any party during recent municipal and local votes, shows the depth of disillusionment over the political system. For most citizens in Greece a malfunctioning political system was the primary source of their present calamity. A dramatic drop in recent opinion polls \u2013 nearly 50 percent \u2013 regarding the popularity of the government and the main opposition party is further proof of this.<\/span><\/p>\n

The next few months are expected to be a make or break period for the Papandreou government. If the tough austerity package which has been squeezing low and middle income earners brings the results their EU and IMF partners wish and if the people see a fairer and less corrupt administration then the Greek government may survive. If not, the option of an early election is not unlikely.<\/span><\/p>\n

I think it is with the view of a touchy domestic scene that one should understand the tough undertones of Papandreou\u2019s speech in Erzurum. The classic \u201cfriendship\u201d rhetoric of the kind we heard during his tenure as foreign minister would have sounded sour to Greek public opinion. Currently, the most popular public figure in Greece is the composer Mikis Theodorakis, with 47 percent approval ratings (his recently founded Movement of Independent Citizens effectively calls for civil disobedience) while the prime minister\u2019s own popularity does not exceed 30 percent.<\/span><\/p>\n

What about the Turkish prime minister? He is also facing a crucial year. An election year. His last year as a candidate for the prime ministership \u2013 as he has declared. Although, in fact, the tribulations inside the EU do not seem to affect the domestic political scene in Turkey, the EU as a prime goal in Justice and Development Party, or AKP, doctrine is expected to figure highly in this year\u2019s campaign, which has already started to simmer.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, Erdo\u011fan\u2019s tough talk in Erzurum, especially over Cyprus, should perhaps be seen as directed against Brussels rather than Athens or Nicosia, while aiming at being heard more loudly at home.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, it seems both prime ministers had their own particular reasons for publicly \u201ccrossing their swords\u201d but not necessarily while aiming at each other.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hurriyet Daily News<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since last Friday, a score of analysts on both sides of the Aegean has been trying to decipher the impact of George Papandreou\u2019s speech in Erzurum and the tough reaction of his Turkish counterpart. Did the two leaders \u201ctrade barbs,\u201d or did they confirm their policy of friendship? The Greek Prime Minister traveled to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75893,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2589,2590,1504,2545,390],"class_list":["post-42987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vivvo-category-5","tag-hurriyet","tag-2590","tag-1504","tag-2545","tag-390"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palmografos.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palmografos.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palmografos.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palmografos.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palmografos.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42987"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.palmografos.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134706,"href":"https:\/\/www.palmografos.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42987\/revisions\/134706"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palmografos.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/75893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palmografos.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palmografos.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palmografos.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}