[MGSA-L] FW: Mitsotakis' Statment

[Christos D. Katsetos]

The latest developments on the Cyprus front indicate that there are two
main issues at hand:

(a) President Papadopoulos with the full backing of the Greek Prime
Minister Karamanlis has called for direct talks with the Republic of
Turkey ahead of the December 17th EU Summit in Brussels.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4008341.stm This is a positive move on
the part of the president so is his good will to make --using his own
words-- "painful concessions" in pursuit of a "fair, viable and workable
solution within the framework of the U.N.-supported Plan [a.k.a. Annan
Plan]".  The ball is now in Ankara's court.

(b) Constantine Mitsotakis's harsh criticism of President Papadopoulos
is utterly intriguing both in terms of its timing (as Mr. Caratzas
insightfully pointed out) but, also, with regard to the severity of its
content, to the extent that was made in an openly coercive manner.
Mitsotakis's appeal (or warning if you will) to young Kostas Karamanlis
"not to get carried away" by the "bad influence" of Tassos Papadopoulos
comes across as strikingly high- handed. To this end, I share the view
that this 'fatherly overture' is a solemn reminder of the escalating
pressure exerted on the government of the Republic of Cyprus not to dare
use a veto against Turkey in the upcoming EU Summit in Brussels.
Surprisingly though, it is, also, a stern warning to the Greek
government coming from certain elements within the governing party.  Are
we witnessing the makings of an early rupture within the New Democracy
party or is this just plain old-fashion politics conducted by a master
of the trade, well-known for his illustrious, albeit protean and
undulating, political tradition since the good old days of July 1965?

C.D.K.

Related link
http://www.phileleftheros.com.cy/main/main.asp?gid=334&id=290590


J S Philobiblos wrote:

> I am grateful to Mr. Ioannou for providing us with the statement by
> Mr. Mitsotakis because the exact text affords us the opportunity to
> understand more clearly some of the motivations that prompted it. Here
> are some thoughts.
>
> 1. The timing is interesting in the sense that it was meant to limit
> the flexibility of Prime Minister Karamanlis in dealing with President
> Papadopoulos. This is classic Mitsotakis in the sense that the effort
> is aimed as much at scoring points at the expense of Karamanlis as it
> is to the substance of the issue. Mitsotakis by these statements
> attempts to keep himself politically relevant by reminding Karamanlis
> that he is still a political force. That may or may not be so...
>
> 2. Mr. Mitsotakisí harsh criticism of the Cypriot president is
> explicable in the context of the ratcheting up of the pressure on
> Greece and Cyprus by the US at this juncture. Mitsotakis thus is
> positioning himself as a supporter of the American-inspired
> ìsolution.î Other actions of the last couple of weeks may be linked: a
> well-known Greek academic (closely identified with the Washington
> line) visited Cyprus recently to promote a ìrealisticî attitude by the
> Cypriots (i.e. to accept the last iteration of the Anan Plan without
> too much resistance or else...). The State Dept. diplomatic theater
> relating to the recognition of FYROM under its nationalist-irredentist
> name ìMacedoniaî (an action which Mitsotakis publicly accepted as
> inevitable) and subsequent ìdiplomatic staticî re recognizing the
> Turkish-occupied part of Cyprus, also are part of this campaign.
>
> 3. Mr. Mitsotakisí comment that the UN ìpaid to supporters of the
> (passage of) the Anan Planî is interesting for the subliminal message
> it sends: bribing in order to achieve, in Mitsotakisí view, a just
> plan is acceptable. Does this absolve all those who took the UN (and
> US) generated bribes to promote ìjust causesî, now and in the past?
>
> And a note on the use of the term ìrealistî to describe acceptance of
> the Anan Plan. The idea is that Greece and Cyprus are so weak that to
> contemplate any other policy than that shoved at them by the State
> Dept. and its factota (the British and Mr. Anan) is unrealistic. I am
> reminded that the same term was used by Axis agents in the Greek press
> in 1939-1940 in order to have a similar effect (cf. articles in the
> newspaper å?úÅúâåØå± at the time): to bully the Greeks into believing
> that maintaining a modicum of freedom of action and national dignity
> were unrealistic, and that submission to superior force was the only
> realistic alternative.
>
> Somehow the undersigned is not convinced that we need to fly the white
> flag of unconditional surrender just yet. We (Greece and/or Cyprus)
> need not be the first to veto Turkish entry into the EU, there are
> plenty of epidoxoi among our European partners who have a range of
> motives to do the same. There are many options for skillful and
> careful players.
>
> Aristide Caratzas
>
>
> On 11/12/04 7:00 PM, "Ioannis Ioannou" <iioannou at hbs.edu> wrote:
>
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