CREATING WAVES IN THE OCEAN WITH A SMALL STONE
Posted under: If Turkey and Greece had not come to the edge of war, because of a small island that no one could even find on a map; a group of women from both sides of Aegean Sea would not put themselves into the posture of finding a solution to this crisis.
20th century was tragically sad for the peoples of Turkish and Greek origins living if not hand in hand, at least side by side on the beautiful Aegean islands and on the Anatolian soil.
I lived the 6-7 September events at Yeniköy in İstanbul as a small child. I remember vividly the stones thrown to the windows of Aunt Eleni , who was our neighbor, and I can not forget the image of her bleeding head behind her windows. Perhaps this scene have never happened, it was just an illusion of my memory provoked by angry crowds coming from
Cyprus war was the reason of this last wave of migration.
Many years later when I went for the first time to Greece, I was profoundly shocked. This was during1990’s. I was rather scared to say that I was Turkish. Now I want to avoid using the word “enmity” to describe the situation and prefer to say that “I felt I was surrounded by a deep coldness.” On that visit I learned that on many products imported from Turkey they did not put the sign “Made in Turkey”. Because people refused to buy anything bearing this sign.
Üsküdar to Yeniköy on small boats with horrifying cries, by the confusion they created and by the fearsome crash of the breaking windows. Time after the events, all my best friends disappeared one by one. Later on, we learned that they left for Greece without telling this to any of us, to their neighbors.
WE THREW KARDAK NEWS TO WASTE BASKET
On December 1995 we started to get news from the Ankara bureau of the Hürriyet Gazetesi.
As the foreign news editor, I used to bring them to the editors meetings.
The news about an island with the name of Kardak which was in Aegean Sea was not news for anybody.
But the story was about Greek fisherman boat which approached the island and Turkey sent a gunboat to confront it.
It sounded to the editors as a usual and minor incident
In the Aegean, the so called “it dalaşları” (dogfights) in the air, and tensions caused by transgressing mutual borders on territorial waters were usual events…
One morning we woke up with the news about the “war of flags in Kardak”.
Turkish journalists had put a Turkish flag on the island which led some Greek citizens to pull it dawn and replace it with a Greek flag. The two countries found themselves in the middle of a deep and dangerous tension.
Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Çiller gave the order to the Turkish Navy Forces: “O bayrak oradan inecek” (that flag will be pulled down from there.)
Both sides were on the edge of a war without really willing to wage war. If USA had not intervened, Turkey and Greece would be involved in a war that we would still try to solve the side effects even today.
WINPEACE was created in such a situation of extreme tension.
ISSUES CONFRONTING TWO COUNTRIES
CONTINENTAL SHELF
Issues on which two countries were in confrontation were not that much complicated to resolve. Yet “the air of the era” (zeitgeist) was such that collaboration among two neighboring countries was blocked each time there was an attempt in that direction.
Continental shelf issue is not still resolved.
But in those days, any drilling operation under the see by a Greek or Turkish boat became immediately big news on the first pages of newspapers in both countries. Both of them were blaming the other side of drilling secretly and illegally to find oil under the sea bed. ; These unproven accusations were helping to increase the tension.
TERRITORIAL WATERS
Some costs of Turkish and Greek territory in the Aegean Sea are so close to each other that, any declaration from either one of them about their intention to apply the international rules about territorial waters, lead inevitably to crisis.
The UN Convention of 1982, on Maritime Law recognized the right of the states to increase the territorial waters to 12 miles. Turkey did not sign this convention, whereas Greece did. According to the 6 miles regulation applied before, Greece had 43, 5 % of the Aegean see and with the application of 12 miles her share of the territorial waters would increase to 71, 5 %. One year after 1994, when the convention acquired legal status, Greek Parliament adopted a decision and declared that “she had the right to enlarge her territorial waters to 12 miles”.
1995 was a year of confrontation regarding the issue of territorial waters: Turkey rejected this declaration. Whereas Greece argued that “For the time being we are not applying the 12 miles rule but, this is part of our sovereignty that no one can refuse to recognize”.
Turkish National Assembly adopted a decision on 8 June 1995 hoping that Greece would not change the status quo, but in case she would, but gave authorization to the government to take all necessary measures including declaration of war. Hence to increase the territorial waters to 12 miles was considered by Turkey a “casus belli”.
Has this issue been solved today? No. But, Greece is not referring to this issue anymore, and Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoğlu promised to his counterpart in Greece to change this old decision.
CYPRUS
One of the three major issues among two countries is the issue of Cyprus. At the time of creation of WINPEACE, in Turkey those who were pro “solution” were largely considered as “traitors”.
It was not better in Greece where the approach was far from being rational. In the process of enlargement of European Union towards Middle and Eastern European countries, Greece worked very hard to include Cyprus in this process. And it did. Finally Cyprus became a member of EU before the problems of the island were resolved.
This new situation was not only a supplementary obstacle for resolving the Cyprus problem, but it also blocked the process of an eventual membership of Turkey to EU.
WINPEACE invited to the conflict resolution seminars Turkish and Greek Cypriote women, and to the youth camps, aside the Turkish and Greek youngsters, youth of both parts of Cyprus. It also promoted always the dialogue between the Cypriotes.
SUPPORT FOR PKK
Behaving according to the idea that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” Greece gave tactical support to PKK, which enraged Turkish people since the beginning of this politics.
The news about the existence of a PKK Camp in Lavrion, nearby Athens and the information indicating that PKK terrorists were getting military training in Greece hurt deeply the Turkish public opinion since the second part of 1990’s. Unending exchange of diplomatic notices lasted until the arrest of Abdullah Öcalan in Kenya, hosted by the ambassador of Greece.
Öcalan’s capture was a turning-point. Greece gradually ended her support to PKK.
Here, the foreign ministers of two countries, İsmail Cem and Yorgo Papandreu played an important role by signing the agreement of fighting against terrorism.
Following the 17 August 1999 earthquake Greek people was one of the first to propose help to Turkish victims.
The political rapprochement attitude that leadership of both countries adopted on the one hand and the friendly attitudes that both people adopted mutually, opened a new page in the relationships of Turkey and Greece.
WHERE DO WE STAND NOW?
The best way to resume where we stand now, is to listen to the words pronounced by Theodoros Pangalos, the deputy prime minister of Greece in the meeting gathering journalists of both countries in Izmir, on September 2010.
Pangalos used to be one of the foremost harsh politicians of 1990’s. Among one of those who opposed firmly the membership of Turkey to EU, Pangalos was talking to journalists in Izmir about the importance of good relationships between Turkey and Greece, he told that “he was and will always be in favor of rapprochement among journalists of both countries” and he praised the economic success of Turkey.
Cem-Papandreu governments adopted a new policy avoiding to lean only to the problems, instead they pointed the issues which were helpful for the rapprochement of the two people. . Within these framework initiatives of rapprochement among business men, women, youth and artists were promoted. Thus, breaking the stereotypes, Turkish and Greek people started to know each other better.
This rapprochement process continued and even grew stronger during the governments of AKP.
AKP governments adopted a diplomatic approach defined as “zero conflict with neighbors”. And nowadays the “rapprochement” policy is developing further into a policy of “partnership”.
In 2004, Tayyip Erdoğan, was the first the prime minister to visit officially Athens, after 16 years.
In May 2010 when Erdoğan visited Athens with 200 business men and nine of his cabinet members, a High Level Cooperation Council met for the first time and this was a new step in their relationships.
Are conflicts resolved? No. But working groups at different levels are trying to open new areas of collaboration and hence contribute to the fact that “working together”, comes before talking about the problems.
The exploratory consultations about the political problems between two countries which started in 2002 are still going on, in a more comprehensive way.
The bilateral meetings about confidence building measures continue successfully. And they already agreed upon. 29 articles as building a direct line of consultation among foreign and defense ministers; to inform each other about the next year’s planned maneuvers; collaboration among Military Academies of both countries; building a direct communication line between National Air Force headquarters situated in Eskişehir and Larissa, building a direct communication line among the Commanders in Chief of military forces. These are some of the extremely important security building measures.
The level of foreign trade which was very low in 1980’s is now booming and measured in million euros. The investment by Greek business men in Turkey is over 4 millions euros. But the most striking fact is about tourism that seemed “unimaginable” few decades ago: In 2009, the number of Greek tourists visiting Turkey was 617 thousand, and Turkish tourists visiting Greece reached 250 thousands.
WHAT WAS THE CONTRIBUTION OF WINPEACE ?
Women’s initiative for peace among Turkey and Greece, WINPEACE, was not expected to resolve all these conflicts, but helped this process of peace building with her conviction, endurance, and day to day concrete field work.
In an era where even the word of “peace” curdled one’s blood, women from both countries called on their governments to reduce defense budgets, and pronounced this demand openly, addressing the public opinions of both countries.
They tried to publish articles of their counterparts in their own press with the aim of informing their public opinion about the thoughts of the other side.
They opened to discussion in their conflict resolution workshops, the most critical issues. And when it came to question of to which cuisine belonged “dolma”, everybody got so nervous and the moment they realized this, they laughed together about the heath of their passions.
They gathered young men and women in youth camps and, reached to women living in distant areas like Karaburun and Lesvos Island through agro-tourism projects.
They supported together the membership of Turkey to EU, they pleaded their cause in front of politicians and they were heard by public opinions of both countries.
They invited women representatives of both national assemblies to get together and sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for friendship.
WINPEACE women, defended and lived thorough their experiences that the political problems between two countries may not be solved, but surely will be made unimportant with the efforts of those who are committed to peace.
WİNPEACE women, they watched with joy, how the modest but sincere peace message that they thrown from the Aegean coasts, created a growing wave in the sea.
Ferai Tınç