Turkish Daily News, 96-06-01

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From: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>

TURKISH DAILY NEWS
1 June 1996

CONTENTS

[01] NATO pushes Greece, Turkey on crisis unit

[01] NATO pushes Greece, Turkey on crisis unit

Reuters

BRUSSELS-NATO, alarmed that tensions in the Aegean could trigger an armed clash between Greece and Turkey, is pressing its two southeastern members to set up a structure for preventing any row spiraling out of control.

Alliance diplomatic sources said NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana, who visited Ankara last week, had indicated he was willing to help both sides improve relations in an area of extreme strategic importance to the West.

NATO wants both countries to agree to have monitors on each other's ships, set up a telephone 'hotline' between the two capitals through NATO's Brussels headquarters, and make more use of information garnered from alliance surveillance aircraft.

"There is immense behind-the-scenes pressure going on, but the whole thing is very delicate," a top European diplomat said.

Greece and Turkey almost came to blows last January over a disputed uninhabited rocky islet in the eastern Aegean, called Imia by Greece and Kardak by Turkey.

Washington intervened and dragged both sides back from the very brink of conflict.

Since then, relations -- soured by years of hostility over Cyprus and a host of other issues -- have remained tense. Alarm bells have rung in allied capitals, increasingly concerned about shoring up Europe's fragile southern flank.

NATO sources say the issue is extremely sensitive and no deal is expected for several more weeks. Both countries have new prime ministers, desperate not to antagonize domestic nationalists.

Athens scrapped a planned meeting of the two nations' foreign ministers next week in Berlin on the fringes of the biannual meeting of NATO foreign ministers after a Turkish warship hit a Greek patrol boat near the disputed islet.

Greece accused Ankara of continuously disputing Greek territory in the Aegean Sea.

"In the day-to-day practice of relations between the two countries, Turkey continues its tactics in Violating airspace and territorial waters," a foreign ministry statement said.

Western European diplomats say Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos and his Turkish counterpart Emre Gonensay may meet in Toronto this weekend as a follow-up to a meeting of experts in Geneva earlier this week.

"The experts' meeting did not make as much progress as one hoped, but things are moving," said one Greek source.

Greece and Turkey's constant squabbling has overflowed into the business of the European Union which has sought to build closer relations with Ankara to bind it closer to Europe and help its secular rulers keep radical Islam at bay.

Athens, however, has infuriated its partners by holding up European Union funds aimed at helping Turkey adjust to a proposed customs union with the EU, until the islands dispute is settled.

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