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Post date: Mar 08, 2017 12:12:46 PM
By Hannah Bauman
This afternoon, the Domestic and EU Refugee policy groups met with the American Ambassador to Greece at the US Embassy. The meeting location was quite a walk from our previous meeting because of a Metro workers’ strike—what a European welcome! After the necessary security clearance, our group was escorted to a room where we met with foreign service officers from the political and public affairs sections. Hearing from these established policy professionals was a treat for those of us who hope to work in foreign policy one day, perhaps even in the State Department. It was fascinating to hear about the officers’ tours from Saudi Arabia to Brazil!
Shortly after these introductions, Ambassador Geoffrey R. Pyatt joined our group and began a brief lecture about the sociopolitical context of Greece, why it is complicated, and why it matters in our modern world. Greece is located at the center of North Africa (Egypt, Libya), the Eastern Mediterranean (Syria, Iraq, etc.), and the Black Sea (Turkey and Russia). This geographic position, at the center of a three-way Venn diagram of historically conflict-ridden regions, gives a relatively small country an outsize amount of importance. Ambassador Pyatt emphasized that Greece’s position as a NATO ally and as a strategic port stop for American aircraft carriers makes the US relationship to Greece especially significant. As he is the public face for Americans, his primary concerns are economic; he described the US’s role as seeking ways to help Greece break out of its debt cycle and improving economic outcomes, ultimately helping stabilize one of the US’s key allies and the region as a whole.
The focus of Pyatt’s priorities are set amongst the backdrop of Greece’s economic crisis—a now more than seven-year-long affair that caused Greece to lose about 25% of its GDP and has contributed to the country's instability and exacerbated the refugee crisis. Pyatt also emphasized the effect of globalization on Greece’s role as an “intake country” for refugees, recounting a story about a 16-year-old Sudanese boy who decided one day he would simply walk to Germany after hearing about a cousin’s successful life there. Pyatt then highlighted the generous Greek response to the current migrant crisis, emphasizing the fact that Greek civil society has truly “stepped up” and provided for many of these refugees when the governmental and NGO response has been insufficient.
Hearing Ambassador Pyatt’s analysis of Greece’s situation from an American perspective was fascinating, and we finished the meeting by asking questions to help clarify our research papers. We discussed the EU-Turkey deal, the Greek government, and the role of the EU in the refugee crisis; the Ambassador’s diplomatic answers to our questions provided us with useful context for recognizing our own American way of seeing the issues. For me, personally, it helped clarify how my own thinking about the issue was grounded in the US context. It also highlighted the fact that there are many different sides to any single issue, especially in a country as uniquely situated and important as Greece is.
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