Turkey-Greece: New tension between the neighbors because of Erdogan's tweets - "Pull yourselves together!"
Created: 06/11/2022, 09:12
By: Bedrettin Bölükbasi
Turkey and Greece are at odds over the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean.
Ankara complains about the "militarization of islands".
Erdogan caused an uproar with tweets.
Ankara/Athens — In the dispute between Turkey and Greece over the status of the Greek islands in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean, there is no sign of calming down.
Already in the summer of 2020, tensions in the eastern Mediterranean increased with mutual military maneuvers and Turkish exploration and drilling ships looking for oil in the region.
The year 2020 was the year of crises between Ankara and Athens, as last seen during the 1996 Imia crisis.
After that, the situation suddenly seemed to improve.
Talks between Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias ushered in a phase of mutual diplomatic rapprochement.
The highlight was the meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Istanbul in March.
The meeting in an extremely positive atmosphere gave hope for a new phase in bilateral relations.
Turkey-Greece: Mitsotakis' speech and Erdogan's anger create new tensions after a quiet phase
But the mutual smiles between the neighbors shouldn't last long.
A speech by Mitsotakis in the US Congress in May suddenly turned the tide.
Without naming the country, he accused Turkey of acting against international law and called on the United States to be careful with arms deliveries to the region in view of the possible sale of F-16 jets to Turkey.
Ankara reacted to the speech of the Greek Prime Minister - especially the Turkish President Erdogan - with concrete steps and tough statements.
He stated that because of Mitsotakis' statements, he no longer wanted to hold meetings with him within the framework of the Strategic Council between the two countries.
"Mitsotakis no longer exists for me," Erdogan said.
Shortly thereafter, Turkey suddenly reopened the file on the Greek islands in the Aegean.
Erdogan's foreign minister indirectly claimed the islands and questioned their sovereignty.
Two main points of contention between Turkey and Greece:
Islands in the Aegean:
Turkey accuses Greece of "militarizing" some islands in contradiction to the Treaties of Lausanne (1923) and Paris (1947).
According to Ankara, Greece is illegally stationing soldiers and heavy weapons and setting up military bases on islands such as Kos, Kalimnos and Karpathos.
The Turkish investigative team
Dogu Akdeniz Politik
published extensive research on military installations on the islands.
Athens in turn justifies this with the Turkish threat and the right to self-defense.
Greece is also considering increasing territorial waters to twelve miles (19.31 km).
Turkey defines this as a "Casus Belli" - a reason for war.
Eastern Mediterranean:
Turkey and Greece are at odds over areas of maritime jurisdiction.
Each of these two countries has its own idea of which area belongs to which country.
Turkey complains here that Greece demands areas of maritime jurisdiction for even the smallest islands like Kastellorizo, as for the mainland.
This conflict extends to the jurisdiction of Cyprus, the northern part of which was taken by Turkish troops in 1974.
From time to time, therefore, dangerous confrontations erupt between the Turkish and Greek navies escorting their countries' survey and drill ships.
Turkey regularly sends several ships on missions to the area.
The ships are named after Ottoman naval commanders and sultans - Oruc Reis, Barbaros Hayreddin,
Yavuz, Kanuni.
Greece considers these missions illegal.
Turkey-Greece: Erdogan sends message during military maneuvers - and confirms again on Twitter
Erdogan on Thursday
(June 9)
attended the Efes-2022 military maneuvers, in which 37 allied countries including the United States also took part.
The maneuver, which has since been completed, was held in Izmir on the Aegean Sea - a symbolically important city for Turkey in the conflict with Greece.
After all, Izmir is the city where the Greek army was finally defeated by the founder of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, during the Turkish War of Independence after World War I.
"Here we threw the Greeks into the water!" is proudly said in Turkey - an extremely popular phrase.
also read
Dispute over Aegean islands: Erdogan threatens Europe with the next war
NATO report apparently makes depressing forecast for Ukraine war – Baerbock sees new Putin strategy
Turkish President Erdogan summarized the messages on Twitter during his speech in Izmir.
Turkey will not disregard the rights of others, but will not allow it to do so for its own rights either, the Turkish President wrote on Twitter.
According to Erdogan, Greece is trying to draw NATO and third countries into the dispute over the islands.
At the same time, he also accused the neighboring country of putting pressure on Turkish minorities in western Thrace, Rhodes and Kos, in complete violation of international and EU law.
In August 2020, Greek military exercises in the vicinity of Turkish villages and burial sites caused an uproar among the Turkish public.
Several broadcasters such as CNN Türk and Habertürk published footage from the area.
The goal was to intimidate the Turkish minority, it was said from Turkey at the time.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Defense Minister Hulusi Akar at the "Efes" military maneuvers.
© IMAGO/XinHua
Turkey-Greece: Erdogan warns neighboring country against "dreams" - "Pull yourself together!"
After listing several allegations against Greece, Erdogan's messages on Twitter developed in a serious direction: "We see that our counterpart misunderstands our patience and our cold-bloodedness/calmness." Erdogan warned with reference to the war with Greece as part of the war of independence the neighboring country: "We again warn Greece to distance itself from dreams, statements and actions that, like a century ago, will end with regret and pull itself together."
The tweets, published in Turkish and English as well as in Greek by Erdogan's official Twitter account, were interpreted in Turkish media as a "clear message to Greece".
The Greek press, on the other hand, spoke of "escalation" and a "new serious challenge".
Turkey-Greece: EU responds to Erdogan escalation with a statement - Athens is calm
The EU has since responded to Erdogan's statements.
Speaking to the Greek public broadcaster ERT, the spokesman for the EU Commission, Peter Stano, emphasized that Turkey must behave "constructively".
He called on Turkey to avoid "escalating steps and rhetoric" and stick to building "good neighborly relations".
Ankara must respect the sovereignty of all EU member states "in their territorial waters and airspace".
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said his country would not fuel tensions in Turkey with additional statements, according to Skai, arguing that the Ukraine conflict has shown that "revisionism" is futile.
Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis also reacted to Turkey's position in a guest article for the US newspaper
Politico
- again without naming the country.
There are "hostile actors who use the language of resentment, revisionism and imperial nostalgia".
"They think they can crush the human spirit with intimidation and military force," Mitsotakis said in
Politico
.
No vacuum should be left for these actors to exploit.
Earlier, broadcaster Skai quoted him as saying: "We have a neighbor who is both isolated and angry." Amidst this political discussion, Turkey is also struggling with extreme inflation.
(bb)