After Russia, now Turkey questions Europe’s territory

A memorandum of understanding for exploring hydrocarbons at sea signed between the government of Tripoli and Turkey openly questions EU territory causing more headaches in Brussels amid an ongoing war in Ukraine.

“Ankara’s latest agreement shows that Turkey follows a pattern”, an EU source told EURACTIV ahead of an EU summit this week which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is expected to attend.

The preliminary deal on energy exploration was signed between the Libyan Government of National Unity and Turkey and is considered a follow-up of a wider memorandum of understanding between the two countries in 2019.

The deal questions Greece’s territorial waters south of the island of Crete and has triggered strong reactions.

The EU, Washington and Athens have all condemned the deal, saying it destabilises the region, infringes upon the sovereign rights of third states, does not comply with the Law of the Sea and cannot produce any legal consequences for third states.

Since the Arab Spring, Libya has been facing a fragile political landscape considering that there are two rival governments: the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity which signed the deal with Ankara and the Sirte-based Government of National Stability.

The latter also slammed the agreement, saying any deal made by an outgoing government is not binding for the Libyan state.

‘We will pull out your eyes’

Moreover, Ankara is increasingly escalating its rhetoric daily, openly questioning the sovereignty of the Greek islands.

Particularly, the far-right government partner of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Devlet Bahçeli, recently said the sovereignty of the Dodecanese and North Aegean islands are Turkish and not Greek.

“We will pull out the eyes of anyone who tries to cover our rights and justice,” Bahçeli said.

An EU source told EURACTIV that Brussels is closely following the escalation in the Mediterranean and in no way wants to face another front of instability after Russia’s invasion in Europe’s east.

“All Turkey’s moves, both in rhetoric and in practice, show that Erdoğan is following a pattern through the repetition of certain moves”, the EU source said.

The source emphasised that in 2019 the Turks signed the Turkish-Libyan memorandum with something in mind because they are coming in 2022 to strengthen it in the same sense.

“The objective is to question the current status quo”, the source added.

In the past, EU member states were divided over Turkey’s issue given their different individual interests. For instance, for the 2015-2019 period, 43% of arms imports to Turkey came from Italy and Spain.

“Before Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, it was true that the further you were from a crisis the less you cared. After Russia’s aggression, however, things have changed as we see where the questioning of the sovereignty of European territory has led us,” the EU source said. 

The same source also stressed that one should not ignore that Turkey will hold elections in 2023 and Erdoğan is trying to re-attract the “patriotic” electorate considering that the Turkish economy is constantly deteriorating and easy solutions cannot be found.

Since last May, Erdoğan has cut all communication lines with the Greek government saying Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis “no longer exists” for him.

Both leaders will attend the Prague summit, but a bilateral meeting seems unlikely. Athens has said, though, that if Ankara asks so, a meeting could be held.

The current rising tensions take place against the backdrop of the ongoing Turkish occupation of the northern third of Cyprus, itself an EU member state. The issue has been stalled for years, leaving the country divided by a heavily guarded border.

This week, the UN Special Representative for Cyprus Colin William Steward said he did not see an end in sight.

“I am extremely concerned that the option of a mutually agreed settlement of the problem – in other words, a formula for reunification of the island acceptable to both sides – is ‘fading away’ and will not be available for much longer,” he added.

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola also spoke on the issues at the Cyprus forum.

“Europe cannot be truly whole as long as Cyprus remains divided,” she said, adding that “the only way forward is to have a single, sovereign European state, a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation, in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.”

Meanwhile, Erdogan simply reiterated his call to the international community to recognise the so-called “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”.

The West is also eyeing with great scepticism Turley’s flirt with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which is controlled by Russia and China and is seen as rival to NATO.

“It’s not a coincidence that Washington lifted its arms embargo on Cyprus right after the participation of Turkey in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit”, a Cypriot diplomatic source told EURACTIV Greece.

(Sarantis Michalopoulos | EURACTIV.com)