... Athens and Ankara launched the so-called “exploratory talks,” a format to exchange views on thorny issues informally. The 60th round of bilateral exploratory talks took place in March 2016 and was the last until now. After 2016, cooperation between Greece and Turkey continued—for example, on the management of the refugee crisis—but the latter employed a different foreign policy approach. Seeing the EU door almost closed and having to deal with the post-coup domestic priorities, President Tayyip Erdogan ...
... few months, Turkish and Greek warships have been involved in several dangerous incidents, with both parties declaring their readiness to open fire at a pinch. Ankara has also warned that it would “not back down” in a potential confrontation. Like Greece, Turkey has already held military manoeuvres in the region.
Turkey’s Motives
Malik Ayub Sumbal:
Turkish Hegemony in the Mediterranean Likely to Create a Mess in the Region
Why does Turkey need the gas deposits of the Mediterranean? Today, Ankara is forced ...
Since at least 1955, the Aegean Sea has long been an area of contention between local powers Greece and Turkey on the one hand, and the US-UK-Israeli strategic axis on the other, with the Soviet Union and then Russia defending its interests when necessary, since the Aegean cannot be separated from the Eastern Mediterranean as a strategic whole, nor from ...
... Erdogan later softened his stance and showed interest in a win-win solution in the interests of all the stakeholders.
U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo met with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias in Vienna to discuss the maritime conflict between Turkey and Greece. He also met with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in the Dominican Republic to discuss the conflict between two NATO alliances. Nevertheless, Turkey has plans to issue gas exploration and drilling licenses in the area between the Greek ...
... tangible sanctions, Erdogan remains unmoved, fixated on brutally contradicting the principles and norms of International Law.
The Evros Crisis as a Test-Case
In early 2020, the whole world witnessed in awe the incredible Evros River Crisis, at the northern Greece-Turkey border. During a late February Greek holiday, the “hybrid invasion” of Greece was attempted by thousands of people, misled by Ankara to believe that “Turkey's borders with Europe are now open.” Erdogan had opened Turkey's border to Greece ...
... vis-à-vis the US, which Greece would not dare to countenance. This is perhaps sensing that were Turkey to snatch a Greek island, the US would simply issue a critical statement against Turkey, and do all it could to prevent a war between NATO ‘allies’ Greece and Turkey, just as occurred with the Cyprus crisis in 1974. It wishes to keep its base at Incirlik.
To Conclude
Then becomes now, albeit with different colours. Just as with Britain during her heyday, Greece’s relations with Russia today are predicated ...
...
“Certainly we will build a great and dynamic future for Turkey, and for this we will sacrifice our life and will take the life of others when needed.” [
4
]
Meanwhile, his close advisor, Yigit Bulut, stated his “certainty” that Washington plans to make Greece attack Turkey, but since Greece “is no match for Turkey’s might”, it would be “like a fly picking a fight with a giant” [
5
]. Moreover, regarding the Greek Imia islets whose “Greekness” Turkey disputes, Bulut professed last January [
6
]:
“We ...
... Russian Federation. Should History unfold in this manner, Moscow’s aforementioned “political/philosophical conundrum” will evaporate.
1
. This article envisaged “joint action” by the “guarantor powers” of the Cypriot Constitution (Britain, Greece and Turkey) in case of a constitutional breach. Failing agreement to take joint action, each guarantor reserved the right “to take action
with the sole aim of re-establishing the state of affairs established by the treaty”
. Instead, Turkey has established ...
... regional security as a host of military operations, including Afghanistan and Kuwait, and as the holder of the British sovereign bases have turned it into an indispensable partner of the West. The island has large expatriate populations from mainland Greece, Russia and the UK, maintains vital economic interests in the wider Middle East, but remains partially occupied by Turkey which has dispatched thousands of soldiers for the protection of an increasing expatriate population of Turkish nationals on the northern part of the island.
The resolution of the Cyprus conflict poses a major challenge given that it is at core ...
