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Greece Slams Turkey Over PKK Terror Claims

Anthee Carassava

   ATHENS - Greece has lashed out at Turkey for alleging that the
   government in Athens is aiding and abetting what Ankara sees as Kurdish
   terrorists. But the accusation, contained in a newly released video,
   comes after reports in Greece that Turkey has granted citizenship to
   Islamic State militants. The fresh accusations traded by the two NATO
   allies may threaten ongoing negotiations to ease long-standing
   differences that nearly sparked a war between them last year.
   It is not the first time Turkey has made such accusations against
   Greece.
   "One country that stands out as a haven for the PKK is our neighbor and
   NATO ally, Greece," says a voice in the video. The PKK is the Kurdistan
   Workers' Party, which has been waging a decades-long insurgency inside
   southeastern Turkey and is considered a terrorist organization by
   Ankara.
   Yet in rebuffing the claim, calling it "mythical" and "propaganda," the
   foreign ministry in Athens questioned the timing of the video's release
   by the chief communications adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip
   Erdogan.
   The video comes days after reports in Greece accused Ankara of granting
   citizenship to a number of IS militants -- a move that raises serious
   concerns about Turkey's border controls with Syria. The interior and
   finance ministries have seized the assets of eight people suspected of
   having links to the terror group.
   The video comes days before Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias goes
   to Ankara to meet with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, to
   thrash out long-standing differences between the two neighbors.
   It won't be an easy round of talks, says analyst Manolis Kostidis. He
   also says the Turkish side will raise several issues and it's highly
   unlikely that even if the talks do go well, that Greece can start
   speaking of improved relations between the age-old foes.
   Greece and Turkey have been at odds for decades over sea and air rights
   in the Aegean Sea that divides them. In the past year, relations have
   deteriorated over oil and gas drilling rights in the eastern
   Mediterranean -- a standoff that nearly brought the two NATO allies to
   the brink of war.
   Since then, senior European Union officials and the United States have
   intervened, bringing the two sides to a negotiating table to sort out
   differences.
   Two rounds of exploratory talks have so far made little progress and
   the coming discussions between the Greek and Turkish ministers are
   being seen as an attempt to salvage the process altogether.
   But with both sides trading accusations anew, analysts like Apostolos
   Maggiriadis, say they fear negotiations may be derailed.
   The feeling among diplomats in Athens, he says, is that there is a
   concerted attempt by Turkey's deep state to torpedo these talks. But
   Greece, he says, does not want to appear as the side abandoning the
   process and it will keep to its pledge of sending its foreign minister
   to Turkey.
   Athens has suggested taking bilateral differences to the International
   Court of Justice in The Hague if negotiations with Ankara fail to
   produce a diplomatic breakthrough.
   The talks are scheduled to begin Wednesday.