The Chairman of The EPP (European People's Party group), a centre-right political group which is also the largest political group in the European Parliament, made a strong tweet yesterday in defence of Greece and Cyprus against Turkish aggression.
Manfred Weber not only condemned the ongoing and repeated Turkish aggression, he also called for an urgent discussion with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borell.
"After ongoing and repeated Turkish aggressions against Greece & Cyprus we EPP urgently call for a debate with Josep Borrell. Europe should stand with Greece to defend its borders and with Cyprus to safeguard it's territorial waters. We will not be blackmailed!" he said.
After ongoing and repeated Turkish aggressions against Greece & Cyprus we @EPPGroup urgently call for a debate with @JosepBorrellF. Europe should stand with #Greece to defend its borders and with #Cyprus to safeguard it's territorial waters. We will not be blackmailed!
— Manfred Weber (@ManfredWeber) June 30, 2020
His comments come after a barrage of endless Turkish provocations, whether it be the daily violations of Greek airspace, unleashing hordes of illegal immigrants on Greece's borders, near daily publications in Turkish media of annexing Greece's islands, and the promise to steal Greece's oil and gas to the south of Crete in September.
Retired Lieutenant General Andreas Pentaras, speaking on Cypriot TV station SIGMA, said that the positions of Greece and Turkey lead mathematically to a hot incident and possibly into a Greek-Turkish war, as reported by Greek City Times. That is why, he stressed, an effort has been launched by the European Union for some kind of diplomatic easing of the situation.
Turkey’s strategy has been in place since the 1950s and has evolved over time depending on geopolitical developments, he said.
When asked to comment on how the situation could escalate, Pentaras said that in this case the aggressor was Turkey, so if the international community wanted to resolve the issue through diplomatic means, efforts should be directed exclusively at Turkey and not at Cyprus or Greece.
In this volatile situation we are facing with the possibility of a hot incident, a Greece-Turkey conflict will spread to Cyprus because it is the weak link for Turkey and it will try to achieve a decisive result because in Greece it will lose, he said.
If there is a hot incident and a conflict, Greece will be the winner and Turkey will try to achieve a substantial result in Cyprus in order to change it at the negotiating table that will follow, he added.
