That is indeed a very refreshing game played among the deep blue waves of the Aegean and the South Mediterranean Sea. Refreshing in terms that when heat waves hit Greece and Turkey and everybody feels exhausted from high temperatures and air pollution, some scientists (Turks) and coastal guards (Greeks) enjoy the chances of breathing fresh cooling sea breezes pretending the first to search (earthquake/oil) and the latter to monitor the first.
The end effect of this game is that the scientists get sun burns and the coast guards feel their nerves are smithereens like grated old Parmesan cheese. The mature and dry Parmesan cheese gets grated into tiny salty dots, while fresh Parmesan is smooth and lightly sweet and is grated into large, soft flakes. Healthy human nerves should resemble the elastic stripes of fresh Parmesan and not the powdered tiny dots. But coastal guards (Greeks) have to monitor closely the scientists (Turks) day and night. And ,believe me, this is very nerving.
the Piri Reis
Apart the scientists (Turks) and the coastal guards (Greeks) the diplomats (Greeks and Turks) have to be on alert all the time and report to the headquarters every tiny piece of significant or insignificant information they hear. At noon they might have a serious talk: it is normally the Greek diplomat visiting his Turkish counterpart to hand a protest note. Normally Greek protests of violations of continental shelf by Turkish naval ship (Piri Reis and Cesme currently) are dismissed as “baseless claims” by the Turks. Maybe the Turkish diplomat throws the protest note into the garbage the moment the Greek has exit the room. In the evening they might meet on a cocktail party and in a relaxing and friendly atmosphere sip on a glass of wine, nibble on finger food and chat about their summer vacation. Duty is fulfilled, anyway.
;)
the Cesme
Next to sun burnt scientists (Turks), pissed off coastal guards (Greeks), frustrated (Greeks) and nonchalant (Turks) diplomats sit the journalists from both countries.
Journalists (Greeks) are starving for a piece of exclusive information about exact position of the scientists, for example, or if Ankara is about to declare Athens a war.
On the other side of the Aegean though, journalists (Turks) devote not a single word on the issue, they play Yahoo-games instead.
For Turks (diplomats and journalists) the issue is a non-issue. Piri Reis and Cesme naval ships were doing nothing wrong. They sail, research and catch red mullets for dinner. It is an issue only for the scientists because of the sunburns… but not Turkish media would ever report about it.
For ordinary people (Greeks and Turks) is not an issue, too. We, Greeks, are busy to count our cents and euros and figure out for how long and if at all we can go for vacation this year. We need to recover from the economic crisis shock. They, Turks, are used to decades long economic crisis. They have already left for vacation.
I left the most important thing for the end. The issue is THE issue for the Armed Forces (Greeks and Turks) of both countries. For Turks, because they initiate, provoke and test reflexes and reactions. For Greeks, because they would love to properly react but they are obedient and compliant to political forces, wills and directives.
Today’s report
Those definitely wanting to know what happened with Piri Reis and Cesme ships today I copy pasted and translated a a full report (Greek).
To make the long story short, the oceanographic Piri Reis was sailing around the nerves of Greeks and Cypriots in the Southern Mediterranean Sea for five days. It violated the continental shelves of both Greece and Cyprus. Then this afternoon Piri Reis left the area. I am sure, we (Greeks) will get angry again tomorrow because the Turkish vessel will conduct research until August 20.
The report:
“In the early hours Turkish oceanographic Ship Cesme appeared in the North Aegean Sea. At exactly 04:50 am the vessel sailed around 7.5 miles south of Alexandroupolis(Greek) and parallel to the coast of Thrace (Greek).
Cesme, moving in international waters but within the Greek continental shelf, is closely monitored by the Coast Guard patrol (Greek).
In the wider marine area there is also another Coast Guard patrol (Turkish).
At the same time the Piri Reis continues for fourth day on underwater surveys around 50 nautical miles south of Kastelorizo (Greek).
The attitude of Turkey has caused considerable concern among officials of the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs and the moves of the neighboring country demonstrate the intention to non-recognition of the Greek continental shelf and de facto co-management of the Aegean Sea”.
