BY GEORGES MEHRABIAN
ATHENS, Greece - On the night of January 31, Greek and Turkish fleets came within minutes of opening fire on each other. Over 20 ships from both countries were assembled in the eastern Aegean, ready to fight over a 10-acre rocky islet four miles off the Turkish coast. The entire Greek fleet had received orders to depart from bases near Athens and Crete to the conflict zone.
Washington stepped in and pressured both sides, who are NATO members, to back off. Under the U.S. "compromise," both fleets and their flags were withdrawn from the area.
The conflict is of great interest to the governments in Washington, Bonn, and other imperialist centers as well. By jumping in to head off the dispute ahead of any of the powers in Europe, Washington reinforced its dominant role in the region. German capital, which has heavy investments in Turkey, was dealt a setback. Report after report in the big- business media confirmed this assessment. "U.S. polices Aegean `while EU sleeps'" read a headline in the February 9 Financial Times of London, for example.
This incident is the latest flare-up in very tense relations between the two countries. The last brush with war occurred in 1987 over a Turkish attempt to carry out exploratory drilling for oil in the Aegean Sea. The Greek government claims the Aegean continental shelf and all its possible mineral deposits.
More recently, the capitalist governments have wrangled over Athens's demand for 12 miles of territorial waters. Turkey's caretaker prime minister, Tansu Ciller, stated February 2, "If the territorial waters are taken to 12 miles, I will speak clearly, this is a cause for war." According to U.S. officials, to diffuse the crisis the new Greek government promised not to exercise that option.
Competition between Ankara, Athens
The Greek and Turkish governments have also been competing
aggressively for oil pipeline deals with Russia and the other
soviet republics. Greek capitalists are fighting for a
pipeline that would have as a terminal the town of
Alexandroupolis in northern Greece, while their Turkish
counterparts want a pipeline terminal in Turkey.
The 1974 invasion of Cyprus and the continued occupation of the northern part of the island by Turkish troops also remains an issue of conflict.
The crisis came at a time of increasing difficulties for both capitalist governments. Ciller, whose True Path Party coalition government was forced to resign last fall due to massive strike wave in opposition to her austerity plans, has yet to form a new government.
Costas Simítis, the new Greek prime minister from the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), had yet to be sworn in on January 31. He had presented an ambitious plan for privatizations and austerity to the parliament on January 29. The Greek rulers had been without an effective government for close to two months as rival factions within PASOK fought it out over who would replace Prime Minister Andreas Papandreous, who is hospitalized and on life support.
Both Ankara and Athens are looking toward the Balkans, the Caucasus, and the Middle East for new markets as a way to increase their profits. This reality in the context of world depression is pushing the Greek imperialists and Turkish capitalists to more and more confrontation and armament. A Turko/Greek war is a genuine possibility in the context of imperialism's war drive against Yugoslavia.
Today Greek troops as well as Turkish ones are stationed in Bosnia as part of NATO's partition and intervention force under Washington's domination.
Opposition to the compromise agreement over the Aegean island was sharp and rapid from bourgeois forces, as well as the labor officialdom, in Greece and Turkey. Miltiádis Evert, leader of the Greek opposition party New Democracy, stated "The removal of Greek troops and the lowering of the Greek flag constitutes an act of treason. You [Simítis] have only one thing left to do: Resign."
Antónis Samarás, leader of the right-wing Political Spring, said, "It is an unprecedented national defeat. The Simítis government did not give in to the Turks' aims 99 percent, but 100 percent under the pressure of the Americans."
Communist Party general secretary Aleka Paparíga stated in Parliament, "That the Greek government would come and publicly thank the U.S., we had not foreseen. Why are you thanking them... because today Greece's sovereignty in the Aegean is officially being disputed?"
At a February 1 rally of several hundred organized by the Athens Labor Center, called to press for wage demands against the bosses' association, marchers arrived behind the Greek national flag. Speaker after speaker denounced Simítis for his "betrayal."
In Turkey Necmettin Erbakan, leader of the Welfare Party (Refah), the largest in parliament, denounced Ciller "Why are we taking down our flag and withdrawing from our own soil?" he demanded. "These islands are ours.
"They have nothing to do with America or the West. Protecting and guarding our own soil is our own duty," he added.
In the last elections Refah, described in the big-business press as the party of "Islamic fundamentalism," won the votes of many in the working class shanty towns around the big cities.
The recent conflict over the islet left working people in both countries worried that sooner or later they will be drawn into a war in the region. A seamstress who works in a garment factory here told this reporter, "I am Turkish and just recently moved here. What's going to happen to me and my family should war break out? I am against this. I watch Turkish TV and so many people have said we won't die over a piece of rock."
In a discussion at the Athens airport one worker, a PASOK supporter, responded to the criticism of Simítis, said, "Are they are nuts or what? What was the alternative? War!"
Another worker, a young woman, stated, "Once your sovereignty is attacked there is no choice. You have to fight; I would send my children to war over this."
The fact is that whether the white cross on a blue background (the Greek flag), or the white crescent on a red background (the Turkish flag) flies over the islet has nothing to do with the interests of working people in either country.