The outgoing US Ambassador, Geoffrey Pyatt, spoke about the Greek-Turkish crisis of 2020 and revealed unknown aspects. According to him, Greece and Turkey reached the brink of conflict at that time and it was necessary, as he says, to "take action intensively to help to prevent things from getting out of control."

"What was happening was more dramatic than the image projected by the media," he said in an interview with Kathimerini.

According to Pyatt, "you heard US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo say we thought this was a very serious crisis and we worked hard to help keep things under control. Conditions are much better today, despite the continuing unacceptable activities, the overflights, the rhetorical exaggerations, the silly statements questioning the sovereignty of the islands, which from the American side is indisputable."

On Article 5

"The strategic landscape around the Aegean, the Black Sea, Asia Minor has changed dramatically since February 24, and I think the developments in Ukraine make it more important for the US to do what it can to ensure that Turkey will behave as a good NATO ally towards all its neighbors. "This is not the time for distractions, whether created by politics, rhetoric or military maneuvers."

Regarding security guarantees, the outgoing US Ambassador to Athens points out that "there is Article 5. You have heard from President Biden a very clear commitment to it and the willingness to provide American forces, equipment and funds to strengthen and to defend this guarantee ".

Asked if it could be implemented "even if the threat comes from within the Alliance", Mr Pyatt said: "Article 5 is the cornerstone of everything we do in terms of our security relationship with the Greece and NATO ".

Biden - Mitsotakis meeting

Ahead of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis's visit to Washington and meeting with Joe Biden, Mr Pyatt said he was aware of the importance for Greece of the invitation for the US President himself and to the US Government as a whole. 

He added that they would discuss, among other things, the ongoing efforts with allies and partners to support the Ukrainian people and impose financial sanctions on Russia for its unprovoked invasion, energy security and cooperation with Greece on natural gas.

The visit of the Greek Prime Minister to the White House on May 16 comes at a very important time not only for Greece, but also for the whole of Europe.

Dealing with the climate crisis, promoting religious freedom around the world, and effective and socially equitable management of the pandemic were some of the topics on the agenda of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's meetings with US President Joe Biden and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. The meetings took place in a very good atmosphere, while as church circles underlined, they were not ceremonial contacts, as the two meetings took place with enlarged delegations and with the participation of senior officials of the White House and the State Department.

Situation in Turkey and pressure on the Halki Theological School

From the side of the patriarchal delegation, it was stressed that the current situation with the Theological School of Halki can not continue. As it was underlined, Turkey is trying to put the issue on the basis of reciprocity with Greece and is asking for unreasonable trade-offs, which of course cannot be accepted by Athens. In this light, the patriarchal mission requested that the issue of the Halki Theological School be removed from the agenda of Greek-Turkish relations. For this reason, they called on the United States to upgrade the issue politically and take an additional step that goes beyond the level of rhetoric. As has been characteristically said, Washington must change its tactics, as its policy has not yielded any results for Halki. As for the situation in Turkey, Joe Biden expressed the feeling that President Erdogan is particularly cramped, as his country's economy is in dire straits, and appeared curious about how he would react from now on.