More austerity in Greece heralds more demos in Syntagma

"How are things in Greece now?" a Turkish friend asked me the other day, looking a bit perplexed over the information that a period of political instability may be around the corner once again. 

It has been quite some time since any of my Turkish friends showed interest in the political ups and downs in Greece. This was not so last year. Indeed, many in Turkey were keen on following the political impact of a prolonged economic crisis in their neighboring country.  

They were particularly interested in the way the society was affected by austerity and they were sympathetic towards the way people had the stamina to go on protesting on the streets, trying to save their rights, their jobs and their salaries. And indeed many of them had openly shown their support last January for what seemed like Greece achieving a finite political solution by the two electoral victories of the radical leftist Syriza party - although some felt perplexed about the meaning and the usefulness of the referendum that took place in between. 

So, most Turks' interest in Greek politics diminished significantly since the summer. Besides, there were no anti-austerity mass protests in Syntagma Square to fill primetime Turkish TV news bulletins any longer.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis "Tsipras' Greece" in the mind of most Turkish friends had more or less entered a normality path and the government was going to sort things out somehow. Even the Greek PM's official visit last November to Turkey was not enough for them to spare their attention to Athens. 

I do not blame them; they have so much more to worry about in Turkey's domestic political agenda that it can hardly give them any time for anything else. I mean, not even for a humanitarian tragedy shared...