THE Greco Turkish "war of the flags" may be over, but the dispute between two Nato allies has raised pointed questions with both domestic political and regional security implications. A day after the Pasok government fought off a parliamentary vote of no confidence late on Wednesday, the head of Greece's right wing opposition New Democracy, Mr Miltiades Evert, called for the entire military leadership to resign.
"It is inconceivable that they stay in their jobs, and I hope they will be retired or that they quit," Mr Evert told a press conference yesterday.
"The government has shown itself to be small in the face of big problems," he said, adding that he might consider asking parliament to set up an inquiry "to study the injustice Greece has suffered."
On Wednesday, Mr Evert had accused the newly elected Prime Minister, Mr Costas Simitis, of "treason" for removing the Greek flag from the tiny island of Imia - known as Kardak to the Turks - at the heart of the latest friction between Athens and Ankara, and for allowing Turkish troops to land on a nearby islet.
Mr Simitis had faced calls for his resignation from deputies of his own Panhellenic Socialist Movement as well as the opposition, which said Greece had lost face in the dispute over a barren island in the Aegean Sea.
The solo performance of Washington in resolving the crisis, with the conspicuous absence of the EU, has also given a new tilt to regional security policy.
The EU stayed on the sidelines during the crisis. "It's vexing," a European diplomat in Athens said, "but you have to recognise that the Americans have shown themselves to be good at this game." London and Paris merely hailed the peaceful resolution of the crisis on Wednesday. Italy - the current EU president - has remained silent.
The US Under Secretary of State, Mr Richard Holbrooke, who orchestrated the withdrawal of Greek and Turkish naval forces from around the disputed islet in telephone negotiations on Tuesday, is planning to visit Athens and Ankara later this month.
To Washington, which took the threat of war quite seriously, the Aegean Sea has become a key region. The US considers Greece and Turkey to be at odds over three issues: the Aegean continental shelf and the limits of their territorial waters and airspace.
Each dispute regularly gives rise to incidents. But Ankara and Athens themselves disagree over the issues and how to approach them.
Athens wants to resolve the continental shelf issue the only issue, as far as the Greeks are concerned at the International Court in The Hague and not at a negotiating table.
"We must set up a dialogue between the two countries," a Turkish diplomat said yesterday. "It's crazy to come to the brink of war over a rock."