Editorial Ta Nea: A national policy line

If there is one area of politics in which one must remain calm and collected it would be national issues of foreign policy.

That is not only because one cannot conduct foreign policy with shrieks and emotionalism or because as the saying goes there are no national rights but rather national interests.

It is also because today is a crucial day in this summer’s protracted Greek-Turkish crisis.

After a month-and-a-half during which the Turkish oil and gas exploration vessel Oruc Reis was sent to the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean accompanied by Turkish warships, the Greek government says that today there will be discussion at a Nato meeting of Turkish provocations.

Nato for decades and until now has chosen a policy of equal distances, and so today’s meeting is crucial because the allies will have to take a clear stand on the perilous conflict.
Given the fact that we all agree that national sovereign rights are paramount, we have a duty to present a united policy line before the international community, especially since we are asking other countries to take a clear stand.

A main opposition party, Syriza, which constantly accuses the government over its handling of Greek-Turkish relations and says that the government does not want a unified national line because it has not convened a council of party leaders is not serving the country and its interests.

Indeed there is a national line that all parties espouse – that a dialogue with Turkey must be confined to the issue of delimiting the two countries’ continental shelves and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), and that if that does not work out the issues must be referred by both countries to the International Court of Justice at The Hague.