The administrator of the Twitter account of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras picked up the wrong day to refer to the Turkish-Russian feud over the downing of the Russian Su 24 last week and to draw attention to the violations of Greek FIR by Turkey as well as to the refugee Crisis.
On Sunday evening, PM Tsipras wrote on both his Twitter accounts in Greek and English:
Responding to Tsipras, Turkey PM Ahmet Davutoglu wrote on his Twitter account tagging @tsipras
It was the first time that Greek-Turkish official diplomacy was carried out on social media. After Davutoglu’s reply, Tsipras or better say -his account administration deleted the tweets in English but left them stand in Greek.
Following Davutoğlu’s response, Tsipras wrote 3 Tweets in Greek and English:
“Important Summit today for the EU, Turkey and our broader region #EUTurkey. Opportunity for an honest, necessary dialogue on the refugee issue, need for resolution of the Cyprus issue, Aegean, war in Syria. We support the promotion of the accession process on the basis of the existing negotiated framework. We are in the same neighborhood and we have to talk honestly so we can reach solutions.”
It was a diplomatic faux pas on the Greek side because:
1. The first four tweets should have been loaded on the following 36 hours after, Turkey downed the Russian jet. and
2. Once you go on social media, it is naive to believe that an issue is gone the moment you delete your posts
3. It was a mistake to delete the Tweets. A Prime Minister and his media team has to stand behind what goes …Live.
You either do it or let it be.
It would seem Tsipras or his people have spent way too much time copying political tactics of US State Dept. They are the kings/queens of the twittersphere. Tell him to give Jen Psaki a call – she ruled state’s twitter acct. until she moved on to another job.