Cordial ties with U.S. seen as fraying

NICOSIA, Cyprus — The much-heralded “strategic partnership” of Greece and the United States appears to have cooled off, with Athens accusing Washington of favoring Turkey, its archenemy, and of generally ignoring Greek sensitivities.

U.S. diplomats laugh off a flurry of Greek notes listing grievances as “nothing more than a friendly tiff,” but the complaints have inflamed the dialogue between the two countries.

The Greek press has started reflecting on the chilled mood in Athens, which Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described a year ago as “our best friend in the Balkans.”

“Greece expects more than official visits and praise,” wrote the conservative Athens daily Kathimerini. “The convergence should take place on the basis of a comprehensive foreign policy plan.” Such a plan, at least according to Greek officials, does not seem to exist.

A Gallup poll released this week found 87 percent of Greeks think the United States “is having a negative effect on efforts to maintain world peace,” and 78 percent “expressed disapproval” of the U.S. handling of the war on terrorism.

So what went wrong since last year’s friendly chat between President Bush and Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, and the Athens visit by Miss Rice and Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick?

Topping the Greek list of grievances is U.S. opposition to Athens’ unswerving support for Greek Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos.

American diplomats, according to their Greek colleagues, feel Mr. Papadopoulos is undermining whatever is left of a United Nations effort to unite Cyprus. Greeks say Washington is increasingly leaning toward the Turkish Cypriot entity in northern Cyprus.

Several of the Greek complaints, however, are over Americans’ choice of words.

The Greeks say Washington was “unwise and undiplomatic” in referring to the Muslim minority in Thrace, northern Greece, as a “Turkish minority” whose rights, they say, are suppressed.

The Greeks say the term “Turkish” rather than “Muslim,” is used mainly by Turkey, “which seeks a pretext to intervene in the area.”

The Greeks also object to an obscure State Department document that referred to the “Macedonian minority” in Greece, meaning citizens of the predominantly Slavic neighboring country.

The Greeks say the only “Macedonia” is in Greece, where Alexander the Great was born and the country that has “usurped” the name should be referred to as “the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.”

Greece is also unhappy with a State Department brochure on international terrorism because it included a photograph of an Athens anti-war demonstration next to pictures of terrorist suspects, including Osama bin Laden.

The Greeks also are disappointed that Washington failed to include Greece on a list of European Union countries whose citizens do not require visas to visit the United States.

“These incidents have cast a shadow over Washington-Athens relations as well as over the U.S. State Department’s relationship with [Foreign Minister Dora] Bakoyannis,” the daily Kathimerini said in commentary.