After putting the country in the grips of the IMF, and gaining the title of one of the most loathed (and controversial) deputies to ever pass from the Greek Parliament, former Finance Minister (and ex Goldman Sachs employee) and present Minister of the Environment George Papaconstantinou is now preparing to give away "key" Greek islands in the Eastern Aegean to Turkey under ... the obligations of the Memorandum of course.
We here at hellasfrappe have said many times that we believe the government of George Papandreou purposely led Greece to the Memorandum because of our country's natural gas and oil. The reasons why we believe this so strongly stems from the multitude of stories that have appeared over the last two years which connect Papandreou to striking secret deals (as well as conducting secret diplomacy with Turkey) for this exact reason. Some may remember a recent proposal that was made by his adviser Alex Rondos who suggested that the Aegean be divided.... for tourism purposes of course. (Click for that story here) Rondos, as we all know, has been rallying for a division and is Papandreou's key associate. Besides, he has been involved ventures in countries that coincidentally all have natural gas and oil....
This shocking new proposal from Papaconstantinou (Papandreou's sidekick) only comes to confirm this.
A shocking article appeared in the Hurriyet Daily News at the weekend (and surprisingly it was totally covered up in Greece) claiming that the PASOK government has planned the "connection" of "key" Greek islands on the Aegean Sea to Turkish electricity grids in the framework of helping to overcome recent political problems between the two countries.
On the sidelines of the Atlantic Council Black Sea Energy and Economic Forum in Istanbul where he was attending, Papaconstantinou apparently told the Turkish newspaper that connecting Greek islands to Turkish electric grids is technically easer than feeding them from the Greek mainland. What's more. he said he hopes to boost flagging Ankara-Athens relations that have been strained by offshore Greek Cypriot gas exploration.
Papacostantinou said that his government has already spoken with Turkish officials on connecting Greek Islands to Turkey "and we are still considering this.”
Speaking about the tensions related to Greek Cyprus’ offshore exploration, Papaconstantinou said, “I can see the nervousness of Turkey, but it will recede with time.” Turkey’s state run oil company’s decision to ink a deal for onshore and offshore exploration with Dutch energy giant Shell next week is “no threat for Greece,” he added. As long as the exploration is carried out according to international laws, “Turkey should go ahead,” the Greek minister
According to an article on this subject on defencenet, and under the government of PASOK, it was decided to impose "an obligation of our country until March 31, 2011 to include non-interconnected islands (with the central network) in the adjustment of a third energy package".
Consequently, with a simple request to the Regulatory Authority for Energy, Turkey can now give power to "key islands" such as Samos, Mytilene, Chios, Kos, Rhodes and Kastelorizo (all the islands of which Turkey wants to explore for natural gas and oil) as it will provide cheaper electricity.
The deregulation of the electricity sector on the islands in the eastern Aegean request, was noted in the revised Memorandum. This of course was not known, until now.
In the first revision of the Memorandum, the Tripartite Committee (with the revised Memorandum of energy) obligated Greece to liberate its energy market even on non-interconnected Greek islands, the monopoly of which was owned by the Hellenic Power Company (PPC or DEH).
This means that those private investors willing to supply electricity to the islands, we will be able to do so. This also applies to Turks, who as we know through their prime minister have already expressed an interest to do so.
It should be reiterated that when George Papandreou received Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan in Athens on May 14, 2010, a group of Turkish businessmen from his entourage visited the Ministry of Environment and spoke to the Minister Tina Birbilis at the time and this proposal was set from then.
Tina Birbili had refused the deal, but all of a sudden and without reason this matter has once again been reinstated by G. Papakonstantinou!
No wonder they appointed him to this specific ministry....
This will be Ankara's chance to "swallow up" our Greek islands without firing "or shot."
If this deal goes through, (aside from the treason that Papaconstantinou will conduct as well as his PASOK party which apparently has agreed to this because it would not be proposed otherwise) Turkey will hold the switch of "life" on our Greek islands which it already does not recognize to be Greek to begin with! A perfect example of this is its reluctance to recognize Agathonisi and Farmakonisi.
We as Greeks demand to know what this is all about and with what right has the Papandreou government moved ahead with ventures that go against our country's interests.
The new Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense (Dimas and D.Avramopoulos) are obligated to give us some answers here and now. If they don't then they too will also be accountable.
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