Europe worried about Turkey's offensive policy (Rerun)
The Oruc Reis, a Turkish seismic prospecting vessel, on the waters of the Bosphorus in Istanbul.
Photo dated October 3, 2018. REUTERS / Yoruk Isik
By: Léa-Lisa Westerhoff Follow
3 min
Ankara, which affirmed in 2004 the principle of "zero problems with neighbors", is, sixteen years later, in conflict with almost everyone.
And in particular, in different areas, with Europe.
Publicity
(Replay of October 22, 2020)
One thinks of Ankara's support for Azerbaijan in recent weeks.
Turkey sent drones and frigates to support this former Soviet Republic in its conquest of Nagorno-Karabakh, rather than using diplomacy.
Ditto in the Eastern Mediterranean, where Ankara redeployed its gas exploration vessel in Greek waters last week, reviving tensions with its neighbor.
Guest of this special Turkey program,
Pierre Razoux
, academic director of the Mediterranean Foundation Institute for Strategic Studies, FMES, in Toulon.
Syria, Libya, but also in recent weeks the Mediterranean, the Caucasus, Ankara is militarily active on multiple fronts and does not hesitate to challenge the Europeans, its NATO allies.
An example of these hotbeds of tension is the eastern Mediterranean, where the Turkish authorities clearly do not intend to calm things down. With the return on October 19, 2020 in Greek waters, of the Turkish gas exploration vessel Oruz Ris (Oruç Reis), despite protests from Athens and Nicosia, the ambition is to blow hot and cold.
The maneuver has, moreover, had the effect of abruptly putting an end to the de-escalation initiated a month ago.
How is this latest outbreak of fever perceived in Turkish public opinion?
Some answers with the report in Istanbul, by
Anne Andlauer
.
At the heart of this rivalry between these two NATO member states, natural gas discovered off Greece a few years ago.
The small island of Kastellorizo is one of its symbols.
These 10 km of rock for some 300 inhabitants in the far East of Greece, theoretically prevent Turkey from exploiting the surrounding maritime space, and in particular the hydrocarbon deposits.
In Kastellorizo, whose history is marked by the domination of many foreign nations, fears tend to remain muted.
But, at the end of September 2020, a drone that came to cover a huge blue and white Greek flag engraved in the rock of a bright red similar to the color of the Turkish flag, notably recalled that the current territorial disputes are far from being settled.
Joël Bronner's
report
on this small island.
This conflict between Greece and Turkey is not recent, far from it.
These hydrocarbon reserves in the area, to which are added the recent discovery of natural gas deposits, prompt us to reflect on the challenges posed by maritime borders.
This is
Daniel Vigneron's
column from
the
myeurop.info site.
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Turkey
Azerbaijan
Nagorno-Karabakh
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