TURKEY VS GREECE: HIGH TENSION

On 6th Sep, Turkey’s armed forces began annual exercises in the breakaway republic of
Northern Cyprus as tensions continue to rise with Greece in the eastern Mediterranean.
Turkey’s hunt for gas and oil reserves in waters claimed by Greece has put a huge strain on
the relationship between the two NATO members. The Turkish military has begun its
exercises called “Mediterranean Storm” with the Turkish Cypriot Security Command. Vice
President Fuat Oktay said that “The security priorities of our country and the Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) are indispensible along with diplomatic solutions in
the eastern Mediterranean.” The Turkish defence ministry tweeted that the military exercises
which last until Thursday, continued successfully.

On 6th Sep, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and European Council President
Charles Michel discussed developments in the eastern Mediterranean. The Turkish leader
invited EU institutions and members’ states to be fair, impartial, and objective and to act
responsibly on regional issues, particularly the eastern Mediterranean. France said that
Turkey’s escalating conflict with Greece and Cyprus will be the main subject at this month’s
European Council meeting, when sanctions will be considered against Ankara. Michel said
that European Union leaders will decide on a carrot and stick approach to Turkey when they
will meet on Sep 24-25, proposing a conference to defuse tensions. Greece responded with
naval exercises to defend its maritime territory, which were later bolstered by the
development of French frigates and fighter jets. On 5th of Sep, Erdogan raised the stakes by
warning Greece that “They will either understand the language of politics and diplomacy or
on the field through bitter experiences.” Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said he and his
counterparts in other EU countries had already discussed “the range of reprisals we could
take with regards to Tukey.” The European Union’s diplomatic chief Josep Borrell has raised
the possibility of sanctions against Ankara, but so far Paris has been unable to persuade other
EU nations to join its hard-line response. Turkey and Greece are at odds over the boundaries
of their territorial waters and airspace in Aegean where Greek islands are lined up along
Turkey’s western coast. The delimitation of the Aegean continental shelf, a dispute that
concerns Turkish and Greek rights to economic exploitation of resources on and under
Aegean seabed in the area that stretches between their territorial waters and the high seas,
remains unresolved. As per the documents, more conflict is projected by the Turkish military
leadership. NATO has taken initiative to reconcile Turkey and Greece over their spat in the
Eastern Mediterranean but tensions are still running high and experts are sceptical about any
immediate outcome. NATO announced that Turkey and Greece have agreed to hold technical
talks to calm military tensions in the region over disputed gas drilling activities. According to
Senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel, Gallia
Lindenstrauss, “The current crisis between Turkey and Greece has similarities to the 1974,
1987 and 1996 crisis between the countries and hence while there is clearly a chance foe
escalation, these two countries also have a record of limiting the level of violence between
them. The matter of delimitation of exclusive economic zones (EEZ) will be tackled at some
point through negotiations, but the question is whether the sides are ready yet for serious
talks.” Paul Antonopoulos, an expert on Turkey-Greek relations said that technical talks
between the countries will not produce any result due to the disagreements over pre-
conditions. He said that “As Turkey not only refuses to send its ships back to port but has
actually increased war and invasion rhetoric against Greece, discussions will not occur under
these conditions.”

Greece is beefing up land patrols to stem a rising tide of illegal migrants trickling in form
neighbouring Turkey. Greek authorities said that they are mobilizing scores of special border
guards to scour sprawling fields and marshland along the Evros region that divides Greece
and Turkey. UN statistics shows that illegal land entries into Greece from Turkey have
doubled in the last one month. Relation between the two countries have deteriorated in the
last few months as Turkey has sent an exploration ship near a cluster of Greek islands, to hunt
for undersea oil and gas in patch of the eastern Mediterranean which Athens says only it has
the right to survey.

Rajeev Ranjan @ Samacharline