Greece must address developments in U.S.-Turkish relations with “strategic composure” and formulate a long-term national strategy in response to geopolitical realignments, stressed the former Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Evangelos Venizelos, during the Athens Defense Conference organized by the Delphi Economic Forum in collaboration with the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP).
Mr. Venizelos pointed out that Donald Trump’s positive stance toward the Turkish President comes as no surprise. “President Trump has expressed his sympathy for Erdogan. It makes sense for the United States to want Turkey within the Western security system. We must address these issues with strategic composure,” he said.
Referring to Greece and Turkey’s accession to NATO in 1952, he noted that at that time the narrative of jointly deterring the Soviet threat had taken shape, despite the two countries’ different starting points after World War II. “We need to see if the 1952 narrative still holds,” he said, noting that the United States’ dominant position within the Alliance remains evident. “I know how European NATO members behave when the U.S. President is present. You can see it in the choreography and the staging. The U.S. holds a dominant position.”
Mr. Venizelos argued that Greece must not fall into “the sin of petty megalomania,” noting that there are countries in Europe, such as France and Britain, that possess nuclear weapons and hold permanent seats on the UN Security Council.
Referring to Greek-Turkish relations, he emphasized that since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, Greece has faced an ongoing security problem. “We believe that the threat has been posed by Turkey; there is also a casus belli,” he said, noting that this reality constitutes a unique situation for Greece within NATO. “Our problem is that, by considering the threat to be Turkish, we represent a unique case within NATO. It is not easy to change the perception of who the enemy is and what the threat is.”
Referring to developments ahead of the NATO summit, he predicted that European countries will once again face pressure to shoulder a greater burden for their defense and security. “European leaders will face the same pressure. The U.S. has made it clear, ever since the Biden administration, that it is shifting its focus to the Pacific,” he said.
At the same time, he pointed out that Greece already exceeds the target for defense spending as a percentage of GDP, but from a different starting point than many other European countries. “We are exceeding it while keeping our eyes on Turkey,” he said, questioning whether there is truly a unified European stance toward Russia and China.
Mr. Venizelos also emphasized the importance of Greece and Turkey themselves maintaining control over Greek-Turkish relations. “The pace of Greek-Turkish relations must be controlled by Greece and Turkey, and by no third party,” he said.
He placed particular emphasis on the need to formulate a long-term national strategy. “It doesn’t matter so much what happens at the NATO summit. What matters greatly is that we have a united front here at home that allows the country to pursue a foreign policy.” As he noted, Greece needs to broaden its horizons and foster a substantive public dialogue on foreign and security policy.
He recalled that the post-dictatorship era built a broad cross-party consensus on foreign policy issues, “which was established by Konstantinos Karamanlis and continued by Andreas Papandreou,” while noting, however, that a substantive public dialogue on national strategy is currently lacking.
In closing, he warned of the rise of populism in foreign policy as well. “Populism is flourishing everywhere. It is flourishing in economic policy as well as in foreign policy. There is also cheap nationalist populism,” he said, referring to Max Weber’s distinction between the “ethic of responsibility” and the “ethic of conviction.”