Cacophony in the Aegean Contemporary Turkish-Greek Relations

Abstract

Cacophony in the Aegean Contemporary Turkish-Greek Relations

Abstract

On 25 December 1995, a Turkish coaster named Figen Akat run
aground on one of the hitherto unnoticed rocks in the Aegean, 3.8 nautical
miles off the Turkish coasL. Later that day, the carrier, after refusing the
rescue offer from a ncarby Greek coast-guard, was able LOfloat again and back
to ilS harbour towards evening without any further incident and much
damage. At the time, nobody could foresee thatthis pure coincidence would
start a series of evems that brought two allies to the cdge of war. In fact, for
several wccks, there was no crisis and it seemed that only a handful of
pcople, who exchanged diplomatic notes, did notice the incidenl. However,
everything changed nearly a month later on 20 January 1996, when the
incidem was leaked to the Greek periodical Granma, onlyadayarter Mr.
Costas Simitis was named to form the new Grcck govemmenl. Immediately,
a media campaign was launched by the Greek press with nationalislİc
overtones, apparently to test Simitis' fortitude against Turkey.

Keywords

• Cacophony
• Aegean Contemporary
• Turkish-Greek Relations