AEGEAN SCAPEGOATING

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP91-00561R000100080042-7
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
February 23, 2012
Sequence Number: 
42
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
May 21, 1978
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP91-00561R000100080042-7.pdf108.83 KB
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Sl Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/23: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100080042-7 Pack Anderson PAGE B-7 21 May 1978 Aegean "l)-capegoatin; For an American journalist, a trip through Turkey and Greece is now an exercise in masochism. Everywhere he goes, on. both sides of the Aegean, he is damned and accused and warned of disaster if the-United States fails to take "proper" actiop to solve the prob- lems in the eastern Mediterranean. Roughly translated, in Ankara this- means "abandon the Greeks"; in Athens it means "flail the Turks." After two weeks of constant.exposure to this litany, reports my associate Joe Spear, it becomes nauseating. It is a fact that : the Johnson and Nixon -administrations supported a repressive military junta in Greece for seven years It is a fact that Henry Kis- singer engineered a tilt toward the Turks during and after their invasion of Cyprus in 197x4 And it Is equally true that Congress reacted by slapping an arms embargo on Turkey. But the United States did not insti- gate the feud between these likeable people. And'they simply will not-per- haps they innately cannot-entertain the idea that they, themselves, have something to do with their own fates. "External forces" are responsible; and in this era of anti-Americanism, the president, Congress and, above all, the CIA have become the scapegoats. ' Turkey,. for example, is' currently plagued with a wave of violence in the streets. Extreme factions of the left and right are shooting and bombing 'each other with abandon, and well over 100 Turks have been killed this year. An occasional Turk will admit that the problem has social and economic .roots. More typical are the opinions of two. , prominent journalists, ? . who charged that the CIA is behind the vio- lence. The Greeks believe with equal passion that they are the victims of a' mysterious and pernicious plot cooked up by the CIA in cahoots with Turkey. The Turks and the Greeks, moreover,. 'refuse to recognize that the United States has its own.interests to protect. Each, move by Washington is judged solely by how one side perceives it will affect the'other. Objective analysis of the important issues in Ankara and. Athens is all too rare. Emotions rule the; day. When -Tmks or Greeks speak: about events,'they usually describe them in tarns of their faelincS. . -Air A. high-level official in the TurkishR, asb.ington with vigor when it is eat foreign ministry, for instance, said thedient. In a recent cable, stamped "cc U.S. arms embargo came as a "badfidential;' Ronald Spiers, the US.a shock" to the Turks. "We are a senti-bassador to Turkey, pondered a ch. mental people," he. Said, and Turkey's vinistic h b Ecevit and wonder relations with the United States had share by "unrequited love affair." by he had engaged in "nundless.j been an tional Similarly, the.Greeks are deeply hurt"e danger," by Carter's efforts to end the embargo 'that he may so enjoy the popular against Turkey. "Americans -and claim that comes from talking back Greeks are brothers," said Panayiotis--Americaus, that he will continue it... Papaligouras, who retired as the for, eign minister a few days ago. "It is a, family fight. Unfortunately, these are' sometimes the worst kind of fights." - The United States even holds the key,: some believe, to the Aegean crisis. Fol-" lowing the Turkish invasion of Cyprus,, the Greeks heavily fortified their Ae-. gean Islands, -some of which lie only a' few miles from the.Turkish mainland:' Meanwhile, the Turks' organized a 60j-- 000-man "Aegeau;army," armed with helicopters and well over 100 landing; craft, and stationed it on the coast op-' posite the, Greek' islands. The Turks' have also claimei1'rights to a share of` the minerals. that.'lie beneath the Ae- gean and have attempted to assert con- trol over half of the Aegean airspace. The Turks would quickly abandon their "expansionist ideas," said several Greeks, if the-United States would get tough with Ankara. Eventually, there arises the nagging suspicion that -flagellation of the United States has become a handy po. ; litical tool i In Athens, to cite just one piece of ev- 'ldence, the Greek military establish-. went has been agitating for a return to NATO, from which they withdrew' their forces in 1974. But, according to` one secret U.S. intelligence report from Athens, "the Gyre leadership ... bed, lieves that public opinion and the inter,' nal political situation will not *permit a: reentry' ? under- . existing circum `' stances:' They want to get back into; NATO on a "de facto" basis without taking the "politically dangerous step: of formally announcing" it, thus giving Greece "the best of two worlds." Turkey has its share of demagogues"' who eagerly excoriate the United: States. Ecevit has generally avoided= such tactics, but. even he can stomp. Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/23: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100080042-7