Greece celebrates its Independence Day with the threat of Turkey in the background

Gas and dialectic tensions are increasingly poisoning the waters of the eastern Mediterranean, while violence itself has become a constant on the border between Turkey and Greece. Against this backdrop, Greece has celebrated its Independence Day, at the same time as several Turkish fighter planes violated its airspace and hundreds of Syrian refugees spent another day at the border, hoping to leave behind the violence and fear to which they have been subjected for years. 

The day was marked by a series of parades and the holding of a military ceremony in the town of Kastanies on the Greek-Turkish border. In this scenario, Turkey and Greece have continued their dialectical battle, accusing each other of being the culprits of the escalation of tension that has been taking place over the last few weeks. As a result, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday blamed the Turkish Government for jeopardising stability in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean. “Once again, under the false pretense of acting in the name of peace and stability in the eastern Mediterranean, and using unfounded arguments, Turkey persists in violating international law and destabilising the region,” the organisation said in a press release. 

The Greek government responded to the presentation earlier this month by Turkey's permanent representative to the United Nations, Feridun Sinirlioglu, of a document containing the geographical coordinates of some of the disputed maritime areas, the Greek daily Ekathimerini reported. These coordinates are the result of the agreement signed between Ankara and the Libyan Government based in Tripoli last November.  This document signed on 27 November drew the maritime border between the two countries which are located near the Greek island of Crete. 

Greece has accused Turkey of “building an illegal house of cards” by refusing to recognise the Republic of Cyprus, an EU and UN member state. “Turkey refuses to recognize the sovereign rights of the Greek islands, in flagrant violation of international maritime law,” the statement said.  Faced with this situation Greece decided to “condemn Turkey's position” and to “repudiate the illegal entities”. 

“Greece continues to adhere to international law as a cornerstone of peace and stability in the world,” they said.  The Greek Republic has also demanded that its neighbour Turkey respect “the sovereign right of these islands to the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone (EEZ)”, stressing that the “illegal and null and void” agreements do not produce any legal effect. “The persistent violation of international law, with or without maps, creates neither law nor rights and will certainly be met with the appropriate response,” they concluded. 

These statements come two days after several Greek media reported that Turkey may have sent its seismic survey vessel, the Oruç Reis, to areas near the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea to continue searching for gas. The ship Oruç Reis and its naval escort consisting of a frigate and two support ships sailed up to 50 nautical miles southeast of Kastellorizo, a Dodecanese island off the southwest coast of Anatolia, according to these reports. Greece feared that this Turkish ship would provoke an international incident, so it decided to follow the movements of the ship closely.  

During the day of celebration of Independence Day, several Turkish F-16 aircraft violated airspace, flying over the Greek island of Ro and other islands in the Aegean and over the Greek mainland without authorisation. According to an announcement by the General Staff of the Hellenic National Defence (GEETHA), these aircraft flew over a group of Greek islands at around 9.25 and 9.28 (local time) at an altitude of 14,000 and 13,500 feet respectively.

Alexis Tsipras, leader of the largest opposition group in the SYRIZA Radical Left, said Wednesday that the anniversary of Independence Day would have to be used to keep the Greeks united against the constant Turkish aggression, just as it was when they liberated themselves from the Ottoman occupation in 1821. “Greek men and women will have to stand together in defence of our national rights and international law,” Tsipras explained, alluding to the 1821 War of Independence and describing it as “a source of inspiration in the struggles for freedom and justice”.

In addition, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias accused on Monday, after a telematic meeting with his EU counterparts, that “Turkey was using migrants to blackmail Europe for political and economic gain”. “These threats, which are also accompanied by the dissemination of false news, will not be accepted by anyone, and we reiterate the need to strictly apply the joint declaration of the European Union and Turkey signed in March 2016,” Dendias said. 

In this context, more than 250 organizations from all over Greece have issued a statement reiterating the dangers arising from the current situation on the border between Turkey and Greece. “In addition to violating national, EU and international laws, in the midst of the pandemic, these agreements also represent a great danger to public health, due to overcrowding in Greece's Reception and Identification Centres (RICs) and in the country's detention centres,” the statement said. Erdogan decided to open the borders arguing that the European Union had not fulfilled its promise to assist the 3.6 million Syrian refugees it is hosting. While Europe is focused on reducing the impact of the coronavirus, Erdogan continues to pursue his ambitions, interests in which there is no room for the more than 35,000 refugees who just want to leave uncertainty and fear behind.