Open Letter to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras

Open Letter to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras Dear Prime Minister, Within few days you will be in the capital of the United States of America for one of the most crucial trips for you and for our homeland. I hope you come well prepared because the American President will be fully informed and ready, to once again, request concessions from Athens without giving any rewards, as all the previous US governments have done. I am sure that you will put on the table many issues of national interest, such as the Cyprus issue, developments in the Balkans, Greek-Turkish relations, the critical issue of energy, the recovery of the Greek economy after exiting from the memoranda, US investments, and the geopolitical importance of the country in an unstable region .It is well known that the Americans appreciate the geostrategic value of Greece and are interested in having a direct and long-term agreement on the base of Souda, the most important and critical base of the US in the Eastern Mediterranean.But you must be ready to ask for an exchange. To convince President Trump that the main exchange you are seeking, in return, is for the Americans to allow us to declare the Greek Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).You, of course, will ask yourself, “But have the Americans forbidden us to declare our EEZ?” Unfortunately, this has been the case since the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) was created during the period thst Andreas Papandreou was the Prime Minister of Greece. Since then, Americans have not allowed us to declare an EEZ by urging us to “Solve the problems with Turkey first, and then declare the EEZ”. You have to tell President Trump that the US governments have “been playing the same violin” for 35 years now, telling the Greek governments that they should not proceed to the unilateral declaration of EEZ without agreeing first with Turkey, pretending they do not know that the proclamation of EEZ is always a unilateral act, just as the Americans themselves did it in 1983. More specifically, the last outspoken US intervention was made on 27 July 2011 by the then Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon, who, in a meeting with journalists in Athens, made an unacceptable statement, which for the Americans is still valid today: “I believe it is important to avoid unilateral steps. The United States recognizes the rights of countries to declare exclusive economic zones, but … we do not think it would be in the interest of Greece to do so without full cooperation with its neighbors, including Turkey.” Prime Minister,You must be aware, as are the experts on the Law of the Sea, that the United States is following a double standard in terms of delimitation of maritime zones. America has delimited its EEZ based on the principle of equidistance that Turkey is so dislikes with Russia, Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas and Cuba.But when it comes time to deal with the Greek-Turkish dispute in the Aegean Archipelago, it supports the Turkish positions of equity. So the Americans accept that their own islands, whether or not inhabited, have full EEZ rights, but our own islands do not have the same rights. This is an unacceptable pro-Turkish position of the Americans since 1982, which must, at last, be overturned.In addition, President Donald Trump rebuked the ambitious and illegal attempts to build China’s islands in the North Sea, saying in his address to the United Nations General Assembly that China must respect the Law of the Sea and stop threats at the South China. As you know, Turkey follows the Chinese example, and the US government must reprimand Erdogan as he behaves like the Chinese in the Eastern Mediterranean. Τέλος, επιτρέψτε μου να σας υπενθυμίσω την δήλωσή σας, στις 23 Ιανουαρίου 2013 στην πρώτη επίσκεψή σας στην Ουάσιγκτον: Finally, let me remind you of your statement on 23 January 2013 on your first visit to Washington: “In the context of International Law, Greece is not and should not negotiate with anyone the right to its Exclusive Economic Zone, and we believe that this right, the inalienable right, must also be supported by the United States of America.” We unfortunately not only have not proclaimed the Greek EEZ, but we are watching the declarations and delimitations of the EEZ from countries of the Eastern Mediterranean. There is no worse thing than the devaluation of the Sea by the people who wrote such a brilliant history through its seas.You hold in your hands the future of our homeland. Do not leave Washington with empty hands. My great teacher, Andreas Papandreou, whom you so admire lately, would have never left empty-handed from the White House. Theodore Kariotis,Washington, DC, USA  

Πηγή: Ανοιχτή επιστολή προς τον Πρωθυπουργό της Ελλάδας Αλέξη Τσίπρα: Την ΑΟΖ και τα μάτια σου… http://mignatiou.com/2017/10/anichti-epistoli-pros-ton-prothipourgo-tis-elladas-alexi-tsipra-tin-aoz-ke-ta-matia-sou/