GREEK VIEWS ON BEST APPROACH TO SYRIA

C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 001087

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/24/2017
TAGS: EUN GR KDEM PGOV PHUM PREL SY
SUBJECT: GREEK VIEWS ON BEST APPROACH TO SYRIA

REF: A. SECSTATE 71071

B. ATHENS 1022

Classified By: AMBASSADOR CHARLES RIES. REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (C) On May 24, A/Polcouns delivered ref a demarche on
Syria's sham presidential referendum to Deputy Director of
the Greek MFA A-6 Division for Middle East Affairs Giorgos
Ayfantis. Ayfantis promised to inform his superiors of the
U.S. position, though he said Greece took another view of the
best way to approach the issue. While Greece wished to see
the democratization of Syria as soon as possible, it saw
Assad as the best of the many current bad options. The
alternative now to Assad, argued Ayfantis, was not democracy
but the Muslim Brotherhood. Nevertheless, Ayfantis said the
EU had criticized the Syrian election procedure, and he did
not exclude the possibility that it would do so again as a
matter of principle.


2. (C) Ayfantis said FM Dora Bakoyannis would include Syria
in her upcoming June visit to the Middle East, which would
also include stops in Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and Lebanon. In
Syria, she would explore several issues. One was Syria's
policy in Lebanon. This was of interest because of the EU
role in UNIFIL, but also because of a potential Syria-Lebanon
route for oil from Mesopotamia, since Greece -- and the EU --
did not want to be overly dependent on Russian oil and the
Persian Gulf was becoming less stable. While Bakoyannis did
not intend to discuss oil directly, she would ask many
questions and her point would be obvious to Assad -- "a very
intelligent man."


3. (C) On the democracy issue, Bakoyannis intended to warn
Assad against Syria becoming a "lonely rider." She would
advocate he jettison his old guard and bring in younger, more
outward-looking cadres. Ayfantis noted that EU High
Representative Solana would also be traveling to Syria
shortly and would deliver a similar message.


4. (C) Finally, during her Middle East trip Bakoyannis would
also try to deal with the leadership crisis in the Jerusalem
Patriarchate of the Greek Orthodox Church (ref b). She had
not secured an audience with the King of Jordan, who was key
to defusing the crisis. Nevertheless, she needed to do what
she could, Ayfantis explained, because of the great symbolic
and religious importance of the Patriarchate for Greece.
RIES