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C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 001121 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/07/01 
TAGS: PREL PGOV ETRD OVIP TU GR
SUBJECT: Presidential Delegate, Rep. Titus, Discusses VWP, Greece's 
Economy and Turkey 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Daniel V. Speckhard, Ambassador, STate, US Embassy 
Athens; REASON: 1.4(B) 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  SUMMARY:  Head of the Presidential Delegation to the 
opening of the New Acropolis Museum, Representative Dina Titus, 
visited Athens June 20-21, meeting with PM Karamanlis, FM 
Bakoyiannis, Interior Minister Pavlopoulos, Tourism Minister 
Markopoulos, Cypriot President Christofias, and President of the 
Pan Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) George Papandreou. 
Conversations focused on the upcoming OSCE Ministerial on European 
Security, Greece-Turkey relations and Aegean/migration issues, 
Cyprus, and Greece's economic challenges. END SUMMARY. 
 
Karamanlis and Bakoyiannis: 
 
¶2. (SBU)  Nevada Congressional Representative Costandina "Dina" 
Titus led a Presidential Delegation to participate in the opening 
of the new Acropolis Museum in Athens, the most significant 
cultural event in Greece since the 2004 Athens Olympics.  During 
her stay, Rep. Titus met with a broad array of Greek and foreign 
political figures, from the Prime Minister down.  In her meeting 
with PM Karamanlis and FM Bakoyiannis, Rep. Titus thanked the Prime 
Minister for hosting the Acropolis event and noted that in the most 
recent elections to US Congress a number of new Greek-Americans had 
been elected.   Karamanlis welcomed Rep. Titus, appreciating the 
fact that President Obama had sent a personal representative to the 
event, and noted that one of the most important issues confronting 
US-Greek relations today was the Visa Waiver program.  He hoped to 
get the final tasks accomplished soon.  On the Corfu talks, 
Karamanlis said he expected good USG participation, having noted a 
new "tone" in Washington, with a strong emphasis on diplomacy. 
Karamanlis commented that he looked forward very much to visiting 
Washington. 
 
3.(C)  In response to a question, Karamanlis said he had just 
spoken with his Turkish counterpart PM Erdogan, and accepted "my 
friend's" explanation that his health prevented him at the last 
minute from coming to Athens for the Acropolis Museum opening. 
Karamanlis noted that Erdogan had said he would try to visit Athens 
soon.  On Cyprus, Karamanlis expressed his disappointment at the 
lack of good progress in the UN-mediated reunification talks.   He 
had hoped for more, but feared that the Turkish Cypriots were not 
being given a free hand from Ankara.  Turning to Greece's efforts 
to improve their relationship with Turkey, Karamanlis said the GOG 
had worked hard for a long time to smooth the path to a better 
relationship, but that progress had stalled in recent years.  The 
Turkish military over flights of Greek territory had been getting 
worse, he said, noting that just the day before PM Erdogan was to 
come to Greece, several Turkish planes had flown once again over 
the Greek-inhabited island of Agathonisi.  This raised questions 
about how much Erdogan was in charge.  The GOG was trying to figure 
out if these flights were a political signal or a sign of lack of 
civilian control over the Turkish military. 
 
 ¶4.  (C)  Rep. Titus asked whether Karamanlis had made progress in 
his recent discussions at the EU of the migration challenge. 
Karamanlis said the GOG had tried to work with Turkey on 
readmission, but he Turks only accepted a very small proportion of 
the migrants originating from Turkey,  so he had gone to the EU 
Council to seek help.  His EU counterparts had promised assistance, 
including some resources, but he was waiting to see if it would be 
actually delivered. 
 
Interior Minister Pavlopoulos: 
 
¶5. (C)  Migration issues were picked up in the meeting with the 
Interior Minister as well. Pavlopoulos  was happy with the PM's 
meeting on migration in Brussels the prior day, saying it was the 
first time the EU had seriously addressed Greece's immigration 
problems, although he noted that the EU still need US support. 
Pavlopoulos said Greece and the EU have not been successful in 
obtaining  re-admission agreements from source countries-  noting 
Nigeria and Pakistan as problems.  In response to Ambassador's 
question, Pavlopoulos indicated the GoG welcomed the upcoming visit 
of EC Commission President Barosso, which will take place in the 
context of looking at Greece's immigration crisis.  On the domestic 
side, the GoG will try to move quickly to accommodate Greece's 
settled Muslim population - including by finally moving to build an 
official mosque and develop a cemetery. 
 
¶6. (C)  Turning to Greece's internal security challenges, 
Pavlopoulos said his ministry had worked hard since the anarchist 
riots in December to stabilize the situation, and get better 
training for police.  The resurgent, though still small scale 
domestic terror groups, he said, benefited from modern 
communications technologies.  He also indicated that they were tied 
in some way to organized crime groups.  The GoG was trying to fight 
both phenomena, and had good information technologies, including 
public cameras from the 2004 Olympics. However Greece also had some 
of Europe's strongest personal data privacy laws, a legacy of the 
1970's Junta years.  Recently, Personal Data Protection Authority 
staff had been working with police and prosecutors to determine 
which images from public cameras could be used in prosecutions. 
 
Tourism Minister Markopoulos: 
 
¶7. (SBU)  Minister Markopoulos was confident that Greece would not 
suffer the severe drops in tourism receipts that some had 
predicted.  In his view, Greece would, be "comfortable" throughout 
2009, in part because internal tourism by Greeks was at an 
historically high level.  Markopoulos said his ministry had been 
working to attract more US tourists, and had organized two trade 
shows, in Chicago and New York.  He would follow this with a visit 
to Los Angeles to develop more interest in Greece-based productions 
among U.S. film companies, saying he'd like to see "one Mama Mia 
(production) per year." 
 
¶8. (C)  Markopoulos turned to the visa waiver issue - saying he was 
confident that the Greek public would fully support the legal and 
security arrangements needed to qualify for the visa waiver program 
with the US.  He assured Rep. Titus that "you have nothing to fear 
from Greek travelers." 
 
Cypriot President Chrystofias 
 
¶9.  (C)  President Chrystofias offered a 45-minute review of the 
history of the conflict (comment: remarkable for its frankness on 
Greek, and Greek Cypriot historical culpability for many of the 
problems that they face now), the state of play in his 
reunification discussions with Turkish Cypriot leader Talat, what 
he wanted from the USG and Greece, and his views on Turkey's role. 
Highlights included: 
 
-- He looked forward to an invitation to go to Washington to meet 
with President Obama . 
 
--  He was in Athens to celebrate the common culture of Greece and 
Cyprus, but wondered when Cyprus  would be able to restore its own 
heritage.  There has been lots of destruction of the Byzantine 
heritage since 1974. 
 
--  He has a good personal relationship with Talat, but Talat 
seemed to have changed: "to a certain extent I don't understand him 
any more. When we try to flesh out details, I get the sense he gets 
his guidance from Ankara." 
 
-- He was facing tough negotiations and "maximalist positions" but 
he had trust in Talat, and hoped to see changes in TC positions in 
coming months. 
 
-- He has made a great concession by discussion of a federal state, 
but Turkey is pushing for a confederal state.  "Bi-zonal, 
bi-communal is unfair - Cyprus always had a mixed population."  A 
confederal state won't be accepted, and he had no interest in 
another failure. 
 
-- Turkey must recognize that things have changed: Cyprus is an EU 
Member, Turkey's EU accession offers new opportunities for all. 
Turkey confronts the deep state but he hopes Erdogan has the will 
to permit the necessary compromises. 
 
   -- Cyprus has "perfect" relations with Greece - the latter does 
not interfere in Cypriot affairs.  The GOG and USA can help by 
using their influence with Turkey, and hewing to principles of 
fairness expressed in various UNSCRs.  Greece's position on giving 
up Treaty Guarantees is helpful; as an EU member state Cyprus has 
no need of a "mother state" offering guarantees. 
 
PASOK President George Papandreou 
 
¶10.  (C)  Opposition PASOK party President George Papandreou 
focused on Greece-Turkey relations, emphasizing that that he hoped 
for Turkey to develop more robust respect for the rule of law, 
which would help the two countries to live together.  This is one 
reason he supported Turkey's EU accession.  Turkey had been 
questioning Greek sovereignty of various Aegean islets,  and was 
staking a claim to a broad continental shelf, but Greece could not 
barter on those issues - rather he preferred to work it out through 
a rules based approach, such as at the International Court of 
Justice.  Papandreou lamented that Turkey's EU prospects seemed to 
have dimmed in recent years, both because certain EU powers had 
balked at digesting such a large enlargement candidate and because 
Ankara had not "decisively" implemented reforms.      Papandreou 
concluded by recalling his close collaboration, focused on Middle 
East issues, with former Turkish FM Cem, and noting that Greece and 
 
Turkey, working together, would be an important  force for 
stability. 
SPECKHARD