After leaving Ancient Olympia, the Olympic flame traveled to the island of Crete and on Friday it finally arrived on the island of Kastelorizo. What some people may not know, however, is that this simple, and common sense event, almost caused tensions with Turkey and the International Olympic Committee. This is because the government of Ankara had the audacity to veto this act and what's more the International Olympic Organizing Committee actually agreed with them! The news angered the Greek government and according to reports Minister of National Defence Dimitris Avramopoulos contacted the former premier Lucas Papademos and they took action right away to reverse this decision.
Luckily the case was resolved quickly and the flame was finally transported successfully to the island by a military plane where it was received by Olympic Gold medalist in sailing Nikos Kaklamanakis. Greece's National Olympic Committee President, Spyros Capralos, was quoted by reporters as saying that it was one of the greatest moments in his career. We agree with him, because the only image the world has of this important island is that of George Papandreou's announcement of Greece getting into the IMF.
The geo-strategic position of Kastelorizo is widely known. When Athens claims its full EEZ, Kastelorizo's presence will make its EEZ contiguous with the EEZ of Cyprus, a factor with great importance for massive off-shore gas and oil discoveries, this is why there has to be a broader projection of this island to the international world, so now you understand why it was very important for the flame to make its way to the island.
Kastelorizo with an EEZ benefits the emerging Greece-Cyprus-Israel alliance by making it possible to transport either Cypriot and Israeli natural gas (via pipeline) or electricity (via cable) to Western Europe without Turkish permission. This has taken on special urgency since Nov. 4, 2011 when Turkey's minister for energy, Taner Yıldız, announced that his government would not permit Israeli natural gas to transit Turkish territory; Ankara will likely also ban Cypriot exports.
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling AKP party colleagues accept Greek control of Kastelorizo and its six nautical miles of territorial waters, but not more and certainly not its full EEZ rights. Indeed, in their eyes, Greek assertion of an EEZ constitutes a casus belli (war).
By neutering Kastelorizo, Ankara can lay claim to large economic area in the Mediterranean and block cooperation among its adversaries. This is why the island could become a flash point
This is why Turkey vetoed this action, and luckily for us, they did not get their way.
What upsets us here at hellasfrappe is why the International Olympic Committee accepted this to begin with. The planners for the London 2012 Olympics have already upset us for accepting a "Macedonian language" from FYROM, when they should be grateful that we are giving them our light when they have till this day refused to us give back our marbles!
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