Washington Post Reports: According to two officials in Brussels with knowledge of the exchange, the specter was raised of aggression from Turkey — a neighboring nation viewed in Greece as a historic antagonist.
WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney today released the following statement condemning threats against Greek national security that were reportedly made during Greek debt negotiations between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande and European Council President Donald Tusk:
“As a Co-chair of the Congressional Hellenic Caucus, I strongly condemn the use of threats against Greek national security as a coercive tool in negotiations over Greece’s participation in the eurozone. It is outrageous for anyone to suggest that Turkish aggression would go unchecked by the international community under any circumstances.
“Regardless of the ultimate outcome of debt negotiations, Greece will continue to be an ally of significant strategic importance to both the United States and the European Union. Suggesting otherwise is Realpolitik in its worst form, and those making such suggestions should know better.”
Background:
Excerpt from the July 13 edition of The Washington Post:
The moves are fostering a deep sense of resentment among Tsipras’s allies and a conviction that Europeans sought to humiliate him. During a pivotal meeting with Merkel, French President François Hollande and European Council President Donald Tusk, Tsipras at one point received a thinly veiled threat that if he walked away and left the euro, Greece risked going it alone geopolitically, too.
According to two officials in Brussels with knowledge of the exchange, the specter was raised of aggression from Turkey — a neighboring nation viewed in Greece as a historic antagonist.
