THE GREEK Prime Minister, Mr Costas Simitis, survived a confidence vote and calls for his resignation last night, two weeks after taking office. Opposition deputies criticised him for losing face with Turkey in the dispute over a tiny Aegean Sea island.
Mr Simitis was branded incompetent and guilty of treason for pulling Greek troops off the islet earlier in the day after Turkish soldiers had landed nearby in a military confrontation that threatened to worsen into open conflict
In Ankara Turkish leaders congratulated themselves on standing firm in the face of Greek pressure, claiming they only withdrew their forces after extensive US diplomacy.
The disputed islet - known as Imia to the Greeks and Kardak to the Turks - lies just 7km off Turkey's south west coast and is little bigger than a football pitch.
In a stormy debate in the Greek parliament, Mr Miltiades Evert, leader of the opposition New Democracy, accused the Pasok government of treason.
"You have agreed to lower the Greek flag on Imia, to pull back Greek armed forces from Greek territory, and you tolerated the landing of Turkish forces on a Greek island," he said.
"The Greek government failed to understand the trap laid by Ankara, which wanted to challenge the legal status of the Aegean Sea."
Mr Simitis, who took over 14 days ago from Mr Andreas Papandreou, hit back, declaring: "The islet of Imia is and will stay Greek."
He continued: "We were ready to go to war and would have done so if it had been necessary. We did not want to fall into the Turkish trap of forcing negotiations over the status of our Aegean islands," he added.
"We were ready for confrontation on Tuesday evening, without hesitation, we had mobilised our forces", but war had to be avoided.
"Alter five, six or seven days of war, we would have been forced to sit down at the negotiating table, which was what the Turks wanted. Greek sovereignty is not negotiable. Nothing has changed about the status of Imia."
Mr Simitis accused Turkey of ignoring the rule of international law and its role as a member of international organisations.
Then, to howls of abuse from the opposition, he thanked US officials for their "aid and initiative" overnight in defusing the crisis, the severest between the traditionally hostile Nato partners since 1987.
Greece said that the US Assistant Secretary of State, Mr Richard Holbrooke, was the main mover in overnight talks to end the conflict. US officials said Mr Holbrooke would visit both countries in the coming weeks.
Greek officials also said President Clinton had spoken to Athens and Ankara several times during the night.
In Ankara the Turkish Foreign Minister, Mr Deniz Baykal, confirmed troops from both sides were withdrawing from Imia or Kardak and the nearby island of Afrogialia, but denied it was the result of a bilateral agreement with Athens.
President Suleyman Demirel of Turkey congratulated the chief of staff for the army's tactics. "Turkey has shown its determination to obtain a peaceful resolution to all its problems with its neighbours," he said.
The Turkish Prime Minister, Ms Tansu Ciller, said the crisis could be resolved by talks, but added: "The Greek flag has been lowered, the Greek soldiers have gone.
Turkish marines started to withdraw early yesterday from Afrogialia, hours after they landed on the rock. A Turkish government spokesman said Greek soldiers began withdrawing at 6 a.m. (4 a.m. Irish time) and said the only remaining military presence was one warship from each side.