Greece Urges to Put Pressure on Turkey instead of Russia

• 05.21.2015, 22:16
•  Europe,  World

Measures to handle terrorism, illegal migration and defense cooperation between the USA and Greece were the main issues discussed at the meeting of US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Christine Wormuth and the Defence Minister Panos Kammenos in the Pentagon.

During the discussion the Greek Minister referred to the role Greece could play in struggling against terrorism once NATO air base is deployed  on Karpathos in conjunction with the existing Souda naval base. Kammenos also touched upon the Greek initiative to form  a stability pillar through "cooperation with Cyprus, Egypt and other countries in the Middle East that struggle against ISIS, such as the Arab Emirates.  The cooperation is to be also extended to Bulgaria and Romania," as protothema.gr reports.

As for the Greek-Turkish relations, Panos Kammenos asked to put pressure on Turkey for it to stop provocations in the Aegean Sea and hold talks on confidence building measures.

According to American media sources, the USA initially welcomed the Greek proposals, but there are no concrete steps yet initiated in this direction.

Anyway, the most interesting part of the meeting was when the Pentagon urged Athens to extend anti-Russian punishment and sanctions.  In response the Greek Minister explained why this solution was undesirable for Greece referring to both cultural and financial reasons.  

On the occasion Kammenos noted that Russia is considered an ally and a friend with which Greece has unbreakable religious bonds. As for Russia-Greece financial relations the Minister noted.

" Greece lost more than €4 billion [$4.5 billion] due to the anti-Russia sanctions, We receive each year more than 1.5 million travelers from Russia. We export agricultural products to Russia,"- told the Minister of Defence.

Besides, Kammenos also noted that Greece had strong ties with Russia in the area of defense. Moscow and Athens managed to establish a relationship that led to solid progress in military-technical cooperation, despite the fact that Greece is NATO member. The Minister expressed hope that the sanctions against Russia would end soon, so that Athens and Moscow could proceed with other agreements.

In spite of Greece’s pro-Russian stance, both the Greece and America reaffirmed "the continuation of the close Greek-US relations."

However the analysts persistently note that Greek-U.S. relations has been the worst in recent years, especially at present when Greece is in the middle of harsh negotiations over its debt and needs all the support it can get, - Greekreporter.com tells.