From next month negotiations are starting between Turkish and Greek experts within NATO's framework for "legalizing" Turkish flights over the Aegean Sea. As it became clear by the visit of the new NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Athens and Ankara, the US and NATO are not hiding their ambitions to become mediators between Greece and Turkey for decreasing the tension in the Aegean Sea.

NATO's model plans Ankara to provide only concrete data about its flights over the Aegean and not to the military aviation but to the NATO aviation center in Larisa. Greece had agreed for this to be discussed on a technical level in Brussels, even though according to diplomats and analyzers such scheme opens the path for collaboration between the Greek-Turkish management of the Aegean Sea under the auspices and arbitrage of NATO.

The visit of NATO Secretary General to Athens and Ankara is only a part of NATO's new concept. A special group, called for short "the wise men's group," with Madeleine Albright as a chairman, is developing a strategic concept, which will replace the last one approved in 1999 and it will detect new threats like: piracy, international safety, disruption of energy supply.

The responsibility to lay the grounds of the concept is given to 12 "wise men," who are being lead by Mrs. Albright and her deputy is Jeroen van der Veer, former CEO of Royal Dutch Shell. The members of the expert group include people approved by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Chosen are also representatives of the diplomatic and science society from Canada, Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Poland, Latvia and Greece. The development of the new strategic concept will be announced with a "public consultation" and on the website of the alliance.

Brussels, the US and NATO are showing great interest to the situation in the air space over the Aegean Sea and again Greece and Turkey will sit down of the negotiations table. This time the reason for this is the visit of the new Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Tina Kaidanow, who replaced Matthew Bryza. Mrs. Kaidanow is visiting Athens and Ankara this week and she will meet Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyanni, government representatives, among whom is defense minister Evangelos Meymarakis.

Dilyana Ivanova