Public opinion is not enough

Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias was justified in expressing his “happiness” in Parliament on Thursday, referring to a recent opinion poll which found that most Turks (64 percent) believe that there is no enmity between their country and Greece.

“Turkish public opinion does not seem to buy the anti-Greek delirium that has possessed the Turkish political system these days,” he said.

Although the same poll found that 51.5 percent of Turkish citizens believe the tension is “an attempt to create an agenda for the elections,” reinforcing Dendias’ optimism, it is perhaps premature to expect Turkey to change tack soon.

As long as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and almost all opposition parties concentrate their arrows on the Greeks, the danger grows that public opinion in both countries may heat up. From the Cyprus issue we know how volatile citizens’ passions are, and how unscrupulous the Turkish state has been in exploiting them. Already we see efforts for further tension, with accusations of a supposed “attack” by the Hellenic Coast Guard on a commercial ship, of “terrorists being trained” at a refugee camp at Lavrio near Athens, of Greece’s S-300 missile system allegedly “locking” onto Turkish F-16s, among others. 

We must note that the poll (by the credible Metropoll) was published in July, when Erdogan, his government, its coalition partners and opposition parties were already raising the tension against Greece. But it is from mid-August on that these have intensified, coming on an almost daily basis, using ever more brutal language. We do not know what the next poll will show, as more Turks will have been convinced that Turkish nationalism is merely a response to the Greek threat, that Greece is America’s Trojan Horse, and so on. 

Perhaps most Turks today are suspicious as to their politicians’ motives for targeting Greece, knowing as they do their country’s problems and not feeling particularly threatened by the Greeks.

However positive this is, it is not enough. For the climate between the two nations to improve, two missions must be combined. First, Greece must reinforce its defenses. Second, an intensive effort must be made to engender understanding and to educate the two nations as to the truth about the past, about today’s reality and future potential. And we know how difficult that second mission is.