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40 minutes just to save face
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Calling Costas Karamanlis "Mr. President" was probably a little overstretched, but Barack Obama’s meeting with the Greek prime minister in Strasburg was enough of a diplomatic show to give Karamanlis a helping hand at a crucial time of his premiership. And the broad smile of the American president and his assessment of Karamanlis’ leadership as "outstanding" was another indication that the strong support given to Obama by the Greek American community had somehow to be compensated.
These are critical times. The unexpected announcement in Ankara last month by Hillary Clinton that the new American president was going to visit Turkey in a few weeks, dropped a diplomatic bomb in Ankara. But it also created waves of extreme frustration in Athens which set their diplomats and lobbyists in a fast motion to organize a last minute diplomatic counter attack in order to alleviate the negative impact on the Greek side. The result of this effort was the hastily arranged Karamanlis-Obama meeting in the presence of their Foreign Ministers during the NATO summit in Strasburg.
It was the first meeting between the two leaders; it took place just before Obama’s private meeting with Tayyip Erdogan and lasted long enough to compensate for the two days that Obama was to spend in Turkey. Indeed, 40 minutes were enough for the Greek prime minister to put forward again the chronic problem with FYROM over their using the name "Macedonia and to list the Greek complaints about Turkey: "Unacceptable violations of Greek airspace by the Turkish air force, the yet unsolvable issue regarding the status of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Fener with the related issue of the Chalki Seminary, the Cyprus problem"- a fat dossier of bilateral issues that Obama somehow assured Karamanlis that he was to take up with the Turkish leaders today and tomorrow. At the same time this long meeting ĞKaramanlis speaks good English so presumably no time was lost in translation- was productive enough for Karamanlis to get an unconfirmed promise from the American president that he will visit Athens some time before the summer.
The American president in his usual fluency with words stressed in front of the camera that he is "proud to call the Greek prime minister my friend" and making sure that he does not appear to forget the help in his march to the Democratic leadership, he agreed with Karamanlis on the important role of the Greek American community acting as a bridge between their countries. However, in spite of his broad smile and easy going posture Ğagainst Mr. Karamanlis uptight and a little awkward manner, Obama may not have the state of Greek-Turkish relations at the top of his priorities. The hotbed of Afghanistan-Pakistan, terrorism, energy, Middle East and regional security and of course, economy are enough to fill his plate. He may have talked with his "friend" about the influence of the Greek culture on America, and the influence of the American Revolution on Greece. But he was very clear on what the US wants from Greece by stressing that his country "looks forward to cooperation against terrorism, economic crisis and energy."
Greece, though, declined the call to commit more forces to Afghanistan, offering only to replace the departing existing soldiers of the Greek force. The shock that announcement of the visit by Obama to Turkey bypassing Greece included a powerful after-shock: the initial announcement that the American president was not going to visit Fener, the See of the Greek Orthodox Church. Instead, Obama was to have a meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos together with the other leaders of religious doctrines in Istanbul on Tuesday Ğa move that would have been a blow to the international status of Fener and would help Ankara’s argument that the Patriarch is just the leader of the Greek Orthodox minority of Istanbul. The impression in the Greek side is that Ankara tried its best to avert a visit by Obama to Fener added to the feelings of frustration on the Greek side that the issue of the Orthodox Patriarchate remains a serious stumbling block in the normalization of Greek-Turkish relations. However, even on that, it seems that intense diplomatic efforts brought some results.
According to information from the US and Athens, Obama may in the end have a private meeting with the Orthodox Patriarch in the hotel where the American president will meet the rest of the church leaders. Again the Greek-American community and their church leadership which falls directly under the ecclesiastical authority of Fener seems to have contributed to the last minute change of program, which, though, still has to be confirmed. The warm meeting in Strasburg with the American president must have been a welcome interval for the Greek prime minister who is facing tonight yet another political storm in the parliament over the alleged corruption of one of his former ministers.
The Greek Parliament is set to vote on a motion by the main opposition party on whether there is ground for setting up a parliamentary committee to investigate the allegations against a former minister of Merchant Navy over bribing. With the municipal elections nearing and with his party constantly trailing behind in the opinion polls, Karamanlis may remember his trip to Strasburg with nostalgia.
It was the first meeting between the two leaders; it took place just before Obama’s private meeting with Tayyip Erdogan and lasted long enough to compensate for the two days that Obama was to spend in Turkey. Indeed, 40 minutes were enough for the Greek prime minister to put forward again the chronic problem with FYROM over their using the name "Macedonia and to list the Greek complaints about Turkey: "Unacceptable violations of Greek airspace by the Turkish air force, the yet unsolvable issue regarding the status of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Fener with the related issue of the Chalki Seminary, the Cyprus problem"- a fat dossier of bilateral issues that Obama somehow assured Karamanlis that he was to take up with the Turkish leaders today and tomorrow. At the same time this long meeting ĞKaramanlis speaks good English so presumably no time was lost in translation- was productive enough for Karamanlis to get an unconfirmed promise from the American president that he will visit Athens some time before the summer.
The American president in his usual fluency with words stressed in front of the camera that he is "proud to call the Greek prime minister my friend" and making sure that he does not appear to forget the help in his march to the Democratic leadership, he agreed with Karamanlis on the important role of the Greek American community acting as a bridge between their countries. However, in spite of his broad smile and easy going posture Ğagainst Mr. Karamanlis uptight and a little awkward manner, Obama may not have the state of Greek-Turkish relations at the top of his priorities. The hotbed of Afghanistan-Pakistan, terrorism, energy, Middle East and regional security and of course, economy are enough to fill his plate. He may have talked with his "friend" about the influence of the Greek culture on America, and the influence of the American Revolution on Greece. But he was very clear on what the US wants from Greece by stressing that his country "looks forward to cooperation against terrorism, economic crisis and energy."
Greece, though, declined the call to commit more forces to Afghanistan, offering only to replace the departing existing soldiers of the Greek force. The shock that announcement of the visit by Obama to Turkey bypassing Greece included a powerful after-shock: the initial announcement that the American president was not going to visit Fener, the See of the Greek Orthodox Church. Instead, Obama was to have a meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos together with the other leaders of religious doctrines in Istanbul on Tuesday Ğa move that would have been a blow to the international status of Fener and would help Ankara’s argument that the Patriarch is just the leader of the Greek Orthodox minority of Istanbul. The impression in the Greek side is that Ankara tried its best to avert a visit by Obama to Fener added to the feelings of frustration on the Greek side that the issue of the Orthodox Patriarchate remains a serious stumbling block in the normalization of Greek-Turkish relations. However, even on that, it seems that intense diplomatic efforts brought some results.
According to information from the US and Athens, Obama may in the end have a private meeting with the Orthodox Patriarch in the hotel where the American president will meet the rest of the church leaders. Again the Greek-American community and their church leadership which falls directly under the ecclesiastical authority of Fener seems to have contributed to the last minute change of program, which, though, still has to be confirmed. The warm meeting in Strasburg with the American president must have been a welcome interval for the Greek prime minister who is facing tonight yet another political storm in the parliament over the alleged corruption of one of his former ministers.
The Greek Parliament is set to vote on a motion by the main opposition party on whether there is ground for setting up a parliamentary committee to investigate the allegations against a former minister of Merchant Navy over bribing. With the municipal elections nearing and with his party constantly trailing behind in the opinion polls, Karamanlis may remember his trip to Strasburg with nostalgia.
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