Editorial: Irresponsibility

Ta Nea’s revelation that Ankara is now officially linking the imprisonment of two Greek army officers with the case of eight Turkish officers who are seeking aslyum in Greece caused a sensation.

That is natural. After that revelation, the framework in which the case is evolving becomes crystal clear, and can lead to secure estimations.

The basic conclusion is that Ankara will not abandon the case of the eight officers. They will continue to pressure and blackmail, with the two Greek officers as leverage.

The second safe conclusion is that Ankara’s persistence is to a degree predicated on promises it said it received from the SYRIZA-Independent Greeks government of an immediate return of the eight to Turkey. Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu put his Greek counterpart in the picture as well.

This demonstrates that the SYRIZA-Independent Greeks government handled the issue irresponsibly. It was irresponsible because it took no precautionary measures to avert members of the armed forces falling victim to pressures and blackmail. It was irresponsible because it downgraded the arrest of the two Greek officers as a minor and temporary event. It was irresponsible because it did not follow a planned policy, but instead engaged in a sort of café diplomacy.

Irresponsibility comes at a price. It is the price being paid by two officers that have been jailed for 128 days in a maximum security prison in Edirne, without any charges having been filed to date.