AEGEAN SCAPEGOATING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• 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
• Publication Date: May 21, 1978
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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