Editorial: The error

It was just two days ago that a government minister maintained that rhetoric should be toned down on both sides of the Aegean so as not to harm tourism.

Yesterday, we witnessed in the most tragic manner the inordinately more essential reason to finally stop the sabre-rattling – because lives are lost.

Yesterday, it was shown that nationalist rhetoric has a cost, which is paid by young people in the blossom of youth.

A life was not lost in the Aegean because fate or fortune wanted it to be thus. It is because the pressure on military men and equipment is huge.

It is because people often surpass themselves and make machines exceed their levels of endurance.

It is because this pressure is fueled by those who choose to conduct politics by playing with fire in a volatile region.
 
That is where the error lies. Not in the possible human error of the pilot. The error is structural. It is political. It is an error with disastrous consequences.

It is a terrible error that resulted in the death of an officer in time of peace, as if this man is a victim of an undeclared war.

These are hours of pain and mourning. Later, the time will inevitably come when responsibility will be attributed.