Tread carefully

The aggression being displayed by Turkey in the Aegean Sea over the past couple of months is cause for great concern and Athens needs to act with determination while keeping a cool head in its responses. Turkey is in the grips of a major domestic crisis following last summer’s failed coup, and the risk of an “accident” either because it is planned or because of overzealousness on the part of certain players is very present indeed. However, the effort launched by Constantine Karamanlis in 1975 to reach an agreement with Turkey that would settle territorial disputes in the Aegean once and for all should by no means be abandoned. That said, for any such effort to come to a successful conclusion, Turkey needs to finally express its interest in and commitment to good-neighborly relations and peaceful coexistence with deeds and not just words.