It is written by Konstantinos Kusantas, Lieutenant General e.a. , MA in International Security (Plymouth) and International Relations (Brussels).*
The phrase of Thucydides in the Epitaph of Pericles that he uttered in 430 BC. for the HONOR to the first dead of the Peloponnesian war it states that “FREE THE CHEERFUL” i.e. “FREE ARE THE BRAVE”.
It is estimated that the serious inevitable escalation with Turkey has already begun and everything shows that a new crisis is considered possible with the departure of the Turkish drilling rig to drill in the SE Mediterranean with a multidimensional purpose:
1. To create more tension in Greece-Turkey relations with the risk of a HOT EPISODE given the existing tension of continuous Turkish violations and official verbal threats.
2. To test the operational readiness – reaction in Greece and Cyprus in order to elicit the OPERATIONAL WAY of reaction of Athens and Nicosia.
3. To try to REGISTER FACTS of drilling in order to eliminate the Greek EEZ South of the Kastelorizo islands in order to use it later as advantages in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea as well as to take advantage of the Turkish-Libyan MEMORANDUM in order to limit the Greek EEZ SE of Crete
4. To influence the public opinion of the Greek citizens in the context of PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS during a period of holidays and rest, as it did in the recent past systematically with announcements even in Greek
5. To attempt to drill within the Cypriot plots of the official designated EEZ in order to cause and possibly SUSPEND operations – drilling procedures of leased companies of the plots of Cypriot interests
6. To record the international reactions of the EU, NATO, USA, Russia, France, Israel, Egypt through the method he always uses of TESTING and TOLERANCE of international public opinion.
7. To disorient the TURKISH PUBLIC OPINION from the big problems of the economy with inflation in Turkey and especially in Istanbul in July 2022 to break every record with 99.11%.
8. To seek to PARTIALLY exploit any tension with Greece given the downward trend of the ruling AKP party in the 2023 elections. A July 2022 poll showed Erdogan trailing all other potential candidates and losing in the second round of the presidential election.
9. To simulate Turkey as a great regional power that does not count on the international factor (NATO, EU) nor any neighboring state to carry out investigations unabashedly. This is also the reason that Erdogan himself will OFFICIALLY announce the AREAS of the investigations on 09 Aug 2022.
Athens and Nicosia should unify and maximize their operational planning with the urgent need to implement an IMMEDIATE NEW DOCTRINE OF A UNIFORM DEFENSE AREA OF GREECE CYPRUS.
The presence of the glorious WAR NAVY and the best WAR AIR FORCE in the world, WILL PROVIDE THE ANSWER if required, to the revisionist new Ottomanism.
