Mediterranean Standoff Shows Little Sign Of Resolution

 

So far Greece has played a masterful hand against Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean standoff. It has collected an impressive list of allies against Turkish attempts to claim a larger slice of the maritime territory and has used this tension to build up its armed forces.

 

            It has also been extremely fortunate in its opponent. Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan is extremely unpopular outside Turkey and has diplomatically isolated his country. I have found only one country, Azerbaijan, that half-heartedly supports Turkish claims over maritime sovereignty. He has not only alienated most of the European Union members but has also alienated the vast majority of Arab countries who are happy to align themselves with Greece. Erdogan was furious when the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain recognized Israel. But, as usual, he glosses over inconvenient facts. Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize Israel and still has several daily flights to Tel Aviv. He has always portrayed himself as the leader of the Muslim Middle East but those claims have now drifted into fantasy land.

 

            Even the loudly trumpeted maritime pact with the UN-recognized part of Libya remains stillborn. In order to become effective the pact had to be ratified by parliaments in both countries. The Turkish parliament quickly ratified it but so far the Libyan parliament has rejected it. Therefore that agreement has no legal standing and is just another baseless claim by Erdoğan.

 

            Beyond these various maritime agreements Erdoğan has other problems that limit his options. Turkey is bogged down with military adventures in Syria and Libya with no end in sight. Keeping a large part of its army in Syria and supporting mercenaries in Libya is an expensive exercise – one the country really cannot afford. After years of mismanagement the Turkish economy is in tatters and the currency keeps sinking to one record low after another. Unemployment is rising and inflation is running well above the Central Bank’s benchmark interest rate. Erdoğan has a pathological hatred of interest and rebuffs every attempt by the Central Bank to counter currency weakness by increasing interest rates. According to his logic the currency is not sinking because of his own mismanagement but because of machinations by the so-called interest rate lobby, the Free Masons, George Soros (he of the infamous anti-Turkish Jewish lobby), the Knights Templar and other assorted malign foreign forces.

 

            But beneath the bellicose language Turkey does have a point in all these discussions about maritime boundaries. The sad thing is that if the Turkish position were presented by someone other than Erdoğan people might actually pay attention and try to solve the problem intelligently. But no one is inclined to give the swaggering neighbourhood bully such consideration.

           

            The Greek position may be within the strict letter of the law but often seems unnecessarily provocative. When you look at a map of the Aegean there is a string of islands extending along the Turkish coast from Mytilene in the north all the way down to the tiny (12 square kilometres) island of Kastellorizo in the south. Then, of course, there’s Cyprus off Turkey’s southern coast. But that’s another long, complicated story. These islands enable Greece and Cyprus (at least the internationally-recognized part of the island) to claim sovereignty over a large part of the Aegean and much of the  eastern Mediterranean.

           

            Understandably these claims infuriate Turkey, which has a long coast line of its own stretching from the northern Aegean all the way around to the eastern edge of the Mediterranean, because it feels hemmed in and denied access to potential maritime riches by a chain of relatively small islands. The various laws and treaties governing maritime rights can fill at least one very large bookcase. Suffice it to say that Greece and Turkey have conflicting views on the application of these laws and treaties. Just one example – Greece has signed the United Nations Convention On The Law Of The Seas which states that Greece is entitled to an Exclusive Economic Zone around the islands. Turkey has not signed this convention and says that convention applies only to the countries that signed it.  In fact Turkey does not recognize a legal continental shelf and EEZ around the Greek islands. As far as Turkey is concerned the continental shelf should be measured from mainland Turkey and not the adjacent Greek islands.

 

            Beyond these migraine-inducing legal arguments there is the even more fundamental question about the size of the resources under the sea. While significant gas fields have been discovered in the indisputably Israeli and Egyptian zones there is serious question about resources near Cyprus. Exploration off Cyprus has so far yielded disappointing results. And nothing has yet been found in the Aegean. But let’s say a major field is discovered. What exactly do you do with it? Some people talk grandly about an undersea pipeline extending from the waters off Cyprus to Crete or Rhodes and then somehow to the Greek mainland and onto Italy. Such a pipeline is astronomically expensive and at today’s natural gas prices completely unrealistic. Ah, you say, send it to Cyprus where it will be converted into LNG (liquified natural gas) and sent on its way in ships. Too bad no such LNG facility exists on Cyprus. And it’s doubtful anyone would build one unless a major field is discovered and gas prices increase sharply.

 

            Looking at a map and ignoring politics for a minute the obvious solution is a pipeline through neighbouring Turkey, a country with multiple pipelines and only 40 miles from Cyprus. Logical? Perhaps. But this is the Aegean/Mediterranean region that has a much longer history of conflict than of logic and cooperation. One might hope for a breakthrough but that would require more statesmanship than is visible right now.

           

One Island Not To Be Overlooked

Leros, tucked away in the south eastern corner of the Aegean, is often overlooked by Greeks and foreign tourists alike. That’s a shame. In addition to having the safest harbour in the Aegean the island offers rich architecture, good food, and fascinating – if somewhat bizarre – history. For one thing, walking through the main town of Lakki you get the strange feeling that you’re on an Italian movie set.




Approaching Lakki

 Like every island in this part of the world, the history and legend go back thousands of years, and the island was sacred to Artemis, goddess of the hunt. The remains of a small temple to Artemis can be found on the northern part of the island. A more stunning reminder of the complicated history of this region is the large castle built by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem in the 14th century that still stands high on a hill overlooking the small fishing village of Pandeli. The Knights gave way to the Ottoman Turks in the 16th century who stayed around until 1912 when it was the turn of the Italians to run the islands. Why the Italians? They were awarded the Dodecanese Islands as part of the spoils of war when the defeated the Turks in 1911. The Italians stayed until 1948 when the Greeks finally reclaimed these islands.

The Italians took advantage of the large harbour to make a base for their Aegean fleet, and in the process decided to create a new town that they called Portolago, since renamed Lakki by the Greeks. In the 1930s this town was created with wide, tree-lined streets and several classic art-deco buildings. After the war many of these buildings were left to decay, but fortunately their architectural value was finally recognized and they are gradually being restored. You half expect Federico Fellini to walk out of one of them as you stroll around the town. The grounds of the naval base itself have been given over to a psychiatric hospital, but you can still see the magnificent house that Mussolini sometimes used as a summer residence. Italian tourists still maintain a close association with the island, and many of them own houses or keep their boats there.

The island suffered badly during World War II when it was bombed in turn by the Royal Air Force and later by Luftwaffe when Britain tried unsuccessfully to recapture the Dodecanese Islands in the fall of 1943. The tunnels prepared by the Italians to store ammunition served a much better purpose during the battles by sheltering citizens of the islands from the worst of the carnage. One of these tunnels now serves as museum dedicated to the Battle of Leros. The other major reminder of that conflict is the immaculately maintained British War Cemetery by Alinda Bay that contains the remains of 179 British, Canadian, and South African soldiers, airmen and sailors killed in the battle. Those interested in the ill-fated attempt to recapture the Dodecanese should read Churchill’s Folly by Anthony Rogers.

While slowing gaining in popularity the island is by no means over-run with visitors, and many of those come on boats that use the marina in Lakki or anchor in the small bay across the island in Panteli. Wherever you stay the best way to see the island is to hire a motor scooter to get around. The roads are fine, and many of them are lined with high eucalyptus and pine trees. As you leave Lakki head up the hill to Platanos, the capital of Leros, and then down to Aghia Marina along Alinda Bay and enjoy the combination of traditional village and neo-classical architecture that dominates these two towns.




Easy Rider Returns

 One of the real pleasures in Aghia Marina is to sit at cafe on the quay munching what are among the best sweets in all of Greece and sipping a decent espresso or an iced cappuccino. You quickly fall into the pleasant routine of those around you and spend a great deal of time doing essentially nothing other than sipping coffee and taking in the beautiful scene around you. When you eventually do get up you feel oddly refreshed and ready for the next adventure – dinner.



Waterfront in Aghia Marina

 If you’re tired of the usual taverna fare of Greek salad, over-cooked meat or chicken, or pasta that is definitely not al dente head to Dimitris O Karaflas (Dimitri the Bald One) in Vromolithos. If nothing else, the setting high on a hill overlooking one of the island’s many bays makes this a worthwhile trip. But the real treat is Dimitris himself who is passionate about food and goes out of his way to use local ingredients to create original, delicious dishes. The best thing is to forget the menu and put yourself in his hands. He will tell you what he has prepared that day and bring you a steady succession of dishes from baby shrimp, to marinated tuna, to pork in a red wine sauce that melts in your mouth, and on and on. By the end of the evening we could just about waddle out to get a cab back to the boat. It was interesting to note that this sumptuous meal was three times cheaper than the dinner we had in Turkey the previous evening. It used to be the other way around. Now Turkey is much more expensive than these islands.



Dimitris The Bald One

The next day was clear with a decent wind, and we headed off for a small group of islands even less well known than Leros where the main entertainment was the tinkling of goat bells and the insistent call of the local rooster.

Forget The Headlines And Enjoy The Islands

Anyone thinking about a holiday to Greece this summer should not be deterred by the screaming headlines of economic catastrophe and political incompetence that dominate any discussion of this country. Yes, the financial situation is dire. Yes, the entire economic structure of the country needs to be reformed. And yes, the political leadership of all the parties seems incapable and/or unwilling to deal with the problem.

But the would-be tourists should also remember that Greece is the alpha and omega of contradictions. There can be angry demonstrations in the city’s main square while countless coffee shops in a nearby square are filled to bursting with people engaging in the main Greek national activities of drinking coffee, smoking, and discussing at high volume everything from the state of their relations with the opposite sex (bad) to the state of economy (even worse). The only point of agreement on the economy is that “It’s not our fault!” The arrow of guilt usually swings in the direction of the Northern Europeans (especially Germany), the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund (Now we know how they make their decisions!), their own politicians (despite the fact that one of these defamed politicians probably gave a job in the tax office to one of the speaker’s relatives), and an assortment of hedge fund managers and global bankers.

The Dodecanese islands (the 12 islands) where we went sailing with our American friends Ken and Stephanie MacLean are even further removed from the confusion that seems to hang like a cloud over much of Athens. These islands stretch roughly from Rhodes northward close to the Turkish coast and include Simi, Telos, Nisiros, Kos, Pserimos, Kalimnos, Leros, Patmos, Lipsi, and the small islets of Arki and Marathi. We arrived in Kos on a beautiful, sunny day with plenty of wind for good sailing. After checking in at the Kos marina we met up with our old friend from Turkey, Noyan Bulugan, who would provide invaluable help with the boat.

The Aegean Sea around these islands offers some of the finest sailing to be found anywhere. Tucked away on the southeastern side of the Aegean they avoid the strong meltemi winds that make sailing in the Cyclades and other Aegean islands such a struggle later in the summer. The prevailing wind in the Dodecanese is northwest, and usually can be counted on to blow around 20 - 25 miles per hour in the afternoons. There is no fog, tides are almost non-existent, the water is crystal clear, and there is very little rain to interfere with a sailing holiday. In addition to the sailing there are interesting islands and small, sparsely populated bays to visit within a short day’s sail. With the exception of Rhodes these islands are relatively free from the worst of the mass tourism development that has infected a few other Greek islands, and they have been able to preserve much of the charm and tranquility of traditional island life. While there is ferry service among the major towns on the Dodecanese the best way to enjoy the islands is on a small boat where you can stop in secluded bays and the smaller towns.

We decided to go north from Kos and take advantage of the good northwest wind that comes down the channel between Turkey, Kos and Kalimnos. The wind picked up to 25 knots as we beat up the channel, and even our fairly old charter sail boat was making good time. Our first stop was on the Turkish side of the channel in a small town near where I used to have a house. The town of Gümüşlük is tucked inside a fairly well protected bay and is the site of the ancient city of Myndos. Even though much of the once-pristine area surrounding Gümüșlük has been covered with brutal holiday development the town itself has escaped the worst of the damage. The only change is that visitors now have their choice of several good fish restaurants along the waterfront instead of the one or two that were open when I used to live in the area. The only downside to the town is that prices have soared, especially when compared with prices on the nearby Greek islands. A decent fish dinner in Gümüşlük was more than three times the price of an even better meal just a few miles away on Leros.

Morning In Gumusluk

After spending the following morning strolling around the town and visiting the ruins of Myndos we headed back to the Greek side of the channel to the bay at Paleonissos which, at the peak season, might have at most three or four other boats. This time of year there was one other boat and it left soon after we arrived. Until very recently the area around Paleonissos had no electricity, no roads, and – mercifully --  no cell phone connection. Electricity and a road have now been brought to the bay, and two houses are under construction. Still, it’s hard to call it crowded, and other than a few children swimming at the head of the bay our only company was a small herd of goats wandering around the steep hills.

Paleonissos At Rush Hour

An Early Season Swim

By the time we had a swim and lunch it was about 2:30 and we set off for the next island, Leros. The narrow entrance to the main harbor on Leros is cut between two high cliffs, but once through this opening the harbor opens into a large, well protected bay. If you have been banging about with stiff Aegean winds and choppy seas it is a welcome relief to sail into the calm waters of the bay.

Waterfront in Lakki

The small marina in the main town of Lakki was unusually busy for this time of year because the Italy/Greece yacht race had stopped there. Nonetheless our old friend Vassilis found us a space and went so far as to put a ‘Reserved’ sign on the spot lest anyone else think of tying up there. Leros has close historical ties to Italy, and remains a very popular tourist destination for Italians, many of whom have bought homes on the island. The island has a bit of a checkered reputation for many Greeks, but it has become one of our favorite islands and has one of the best restaurants in the entire Dodecanese. More on Leros later.