Athens’s rebuttal to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s sudden announcement that Greece and Turkey are ready to start a technical dialogue within NATO was resounding.
“After my discussions with the leaders of Greece and Turkey, the two allies agreed to start technical talks with NATO on establishing mechanisms for military de-escalation and reducing the risk of incidents and accidents in the Eastern Mediterranean,” Stoltenberg said in a statement via twitter.
Following my discussions with Greek & Turkish leaders, the two Allies have agreed to enter into technical talks at #NATO to establish deconfliction mechanisms and reduce the risk of incidents & accidents in the #EastMed. https://t.co/Kc70MlNPzY
— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) September 3, 2020
However, shortly after Stoltenberg’s statement was released, Greek diplomatic sources noted that “information that has come to light about alleged technical talks in NATO does not correspond to reality.
In any case, we have restrained the intention of the NATO Secretary General to work to establish de-escalation mechanisms within NATO. “However, de-escalation is only the immediate removal of all Turkish ships from the Greek continental shelf,” the sources said.
“Unilateral hand over of a document with a request for comments within a week is by no means the beginning of a dialogue,” they conclude.
On the contrary, Stoltenberg’s proposal was welcomed by Turkey, as the Foreign Ministry in its announcement states that “the proposal is also supported by our country”, calling on Greece to support this move and sit at the table of “military-technical negotiations”.
Stoltenberg’s statements were preceded by a telephone conversation between Merkel and Erdogan, during which the Turkish president blamed Greece and Cyprus for the tension and claimed that it was unacceptable for them to be supported by other countries.
“Greece, the Greek Cypriots and the countries that support them, are taking steps that increase the tension and lead to the non-solution of the problems,” Erdogan added.
