Persons whose actions are known in Greece take the key – for Greek-Turkish– Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense of Turkey.

New Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hakan Fidan, was for a number of years the head of the Turkish Intelligence Service. Less well known in Greece is the new Minister of National Defense, Yasar Gulerwho until recently was the head of the Turkish armed forces.

Why were first-class ministers not taken into account?

Manolis Costidis

ISTANBUL – ANSWER. With a radical change in all cabinet members, as well as in critical sectors of the state, he began his new five-year term. Recep Tayyip Erdogan. However, the Turkish President, as well as the new Minister of Defense, Yasar Güler, reminded them with their statements to continue their theory “Blue Motherland”. The Turkish president in the new cabinet expelled all the “first-class” ministers of his previous term and made changes in the key ministries of foreign affairs, defense, interior and finance. Political analysts stress that the reason Erdogan made these changes is a kind of “turning the page” as well as the exclusion of ministers who were being groomed as possible successors to the Turkish president.

New Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Hakan Fidan is considered one of the biggest names in the new cabinet as he was the commander of the Turkish Intelligence Service (MIT) for 13 years and has now replaced Mevlut Cavusoglu. In Turkey, he is called the “secret box”, the “master of information”, etc. Mr. Fidan emphasized in his first statements: “I will continue the vision of our national foreign policy, the independence of our state from all spheres of influence, and I will take into account the independence of the will of our people.”

Turkish journalist for Milliyet newspaper Ozay Sentir said that at the handover ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one of the first people to embrace Mr. Fidan was the Libyan Prime Minister. “This is important, since we start our position for the Blue Motherland, at the level of international law, from Libya, and we supported them,” he said. However, information indicates that at a dinner hosted by the Turkish President for politicians on the occasion of his inauguration, Erdogan and Fidan, in their contacts with Acting Greek Foreign Minister Vasilis Kaskarelis and Dimitris Avramopoulos, showed a positive attitude towards contacts between Athens And Ankara.

A radical restructuring could be the signal to turn the page or simply remove potential dolphins.

V Ministry of Defence The head of the armed forces, Yasar Güler, was appointed. outgoing minister Hulusi Akar he was considered influential names of the previous power. Mr. Güler emphasized at the handover ceremony: “We will ensure peace and security in the lands of our Motherland, as well as in the Blue Motherland and the motherland of our ethers.”

The speech was preceded by Erdogan after being sworn in, who stressed that “in the new era, our interlocutors will face a Turkey that will more resolutely fight against terrorist organizations inside and outside its borders, more resolutely defend the rights of its own and its brothers in the Blue Motherland” “.

His karatemation made an impression Suleiman Soylu from the Ministry of the Interior. Erdogan replaced him with the prefect of Istanbul, Ali Herlikaya. Political analysts in the neighboring country note that one of the reasons for his dismissal may be Mr. Soylu’s anti-American statements during the period of attempts to negotiate with Washington, as well as the creation of his own ministerial circle.

Mehmet Simsek’s appointment to the finance ministry was discounted and he promised “transparency, predictability, reliability and adaptation to international rules”. Mr. Simsek also ran the Turkish economy in the past, but left in 2018 after an international career. The leadership of MIT was taken over by Ibrahim Kalin, who was a representative of the Turkish president and a man of special diplomatic missions.

Erdogan, in his speech after the Cabinet of Ministers, referring to foreign policy, stated that “Turkey is bigger than Turkey, it is bigger than 780,000 sq. km. We are not bound by narrow boundaries, and this has been shown by participating in the inaugurations of leaders from all over the world.”

Who are the interlocutors of Greece?

Vasilis Nedos

Persons whose actions from previous posts are known in Greece occupy the key – for the Greek-Turkish – posts of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and National Defense of Turkey.

The new foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, who for a number of years headed Turkey’s powerful intelligence service MIT, although he did not hold any political position in the past, was the invisible hand of Turkish diplomacy, which is why he is known in Athens. Greek diplomacy recorded Mr. Fidan’s key role as head of MIT in the gradual expansion of Turkish influence in Tripoli, which, as you know, led to the Turkish-Libyan memorandum.

Mr. Fidan, after all, attended every important meeting of his Recep Tayyip Erdogan abroad, while usually at the initial stage it paved the way, especially for penetration into the countries of interest of Turkey, Central Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Needless to say, his move Ibrahim Kalinuntil Mr. Erdogan’s former representative as MIT commander simply reaffirms the Turkish president’s absolute control of the central cogs of power.

The fact that there was direct communication from the Greek side with Mr. Kalin for a significant period of time (mainly with the former diplomatic adviser to the Prime Minister and the current Greek Ambassador to Rome, Eleni Surani, as well as with the current Anna Maria Bura) is assessed as important .

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is known in Athens as the invisible hand of Turkish diplomacy, while National Defense Minister Yasar Güler is unknown.

Almost unknown to Greece is the new Minister of National Defense of Turkey, Yasar Güler, who until recently was the head of the Turkish armed forces, i.е. equated with the head of the Greek armed forces.

The lack of personal relationship with Mr Güler is largely due to the 2020 confrontations (in the Ebro and Eastern Mediterranean) and the absolute lack of communication between Greece and Turkey at the military level.

In early 2020, when Konstantinos Floros took over as commander-in-chief of the Greek armed forces, the Greek government considered opening a direct channel of communication between the two heads of the Greek and Turkish military forces, which was not possible. consequently former Ministers of National Defense Nikos Panagiotopoulos and Hulusi Akar assumed this role.