BY SEDAT ERGIN
HURRIYET- Columnist Sedat Ergin comments on Turkish-Greek relations concerning the Aegean issue. A summary of his column is as follows:
Greek government officials, most notably Foreign Minister George Papandreou, have recently been accusing Turkey of violating Greek airspace over the Aegean. Athens has been complaining to the European Union about Turkish military jets’ flights over the Aegean. The Aegean rules of flight which have been valid for decades are now being brought to the EU’s agenda. Meanwhile, Ankara is trying to downplay the issue.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul’s failure to respond to these accusations as the General Staff had requested can be seen as the government’s policy of ‘letting things cool down.’ When Gul resisted, the General Staff had to issue a statement single-handedly, and this caused Athens to charge that the military is governing Turkey. Replying to these accusations, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, ‘We are in the EU process. We and Greece should both be sensitive to these issues,’ which shows the government’s flexible stance. Clearly the AKP government is giving priority to full EU membership in its foreign policy, so for now it’s bearing up under Greece’s strategy in order not to offend the EU.
Of course beyond this specific policy, Greece is trying to shape international public opinion and the EU in its direction. Probably it has two tactical aims: Athens wants to benefit from the worsened state of Turkish-US relations following the Iraq war as well as Turkey’s lessened importance in the region and use this situation to its own advantage. In addition, Athens is trying to make the EU favor its own take on the Aegean issue before the bargaining between Turkey and Greece next year.
At this point, we should remember that the Aegean problems were among the most important elements of the 1999 EU summit in Helsinki. The summit’s final declaration urged Ankara and Athens to ‘exert all efforts towards solving border disputes,’ adding, ‘If they fail to do so, they should bring the problem to the International Court of Justice.’ The declaration started, ‘The EU will review the situation on these disputes in order to encourage a solution through the International Court of Justice by the end of 2004.’ Of course, in December 2004 the EU will decide if it will start full membership negotiations with Turkey or not.
Even if Turkey has met all the political criteria by this date, it has to come to an agreement with Greece or at least reach a framework for solving the Aegean problems. Thus, the AKP government will make a series of decisions on this issue next year. This will be a test for the government.

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION