Greece on diplomatic marathon to counter Turkey's gas rush

Athens continues its diplomatic marathon. In order to counter Turkey's gas rush and limit the impact of an agreement it concluded last November with Libya to extend its maritime borders, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias carried out on Sunday December 22, lightning visits to eastern Libya, Egypt and Cyprus. The goal: to find support against the military and maritime agreement between Ankara and the Libyan government of union (GNA), recognized by the UN, according to experts and Greek media.

Greece has called on the United Nations to condemn this agreement, which allows Ankara to claim rights over oil-rich areas in the Mediterranean, especially off Crete.

Indeed, the discovery in recent years of gigantic gas deposits in the eastern Mediterranean has whetted appetites. Several Turkish boats are already looking for oil and gas off Cyprus, the subject of tensions with the European Union of which Cyprus is a member, Turkey occupying the northern part of the island.

Με τον φίλο και ομόλογό μου @Christodulides στην Κύπρο. Οι τελευταίες εξελίξεις, σε συνέχεια της επίσκεψής μου σε Λιβύη και Αίγυπτο, στο επίκεντρο της συζητήσς. #Cyprus #Egypt #Libya pic.twitter.com/xXUfwKk6ap

2,000 km gas pipeline to block Turkey

After the Greek Foreign Minister's tour, Athens announced that an agreement on the EastMed pipeline will be signed between Greece, Cyprus and Israel on January 2.

The 2,000-kilometer-long gas pipeline is expected to make the three countries an important link in Europe's energy supply chain and block Turkey's attempts to extend its control over the eastern Mediterranean.

"It is the first time in twenty years that we observe such activity" diplomatic on the Greek side, assured to the municipal radio of Athens Sotiris Serbos, assistant professor in international politics at the Democritus University of Thrace.

The Turkish-Libyan agreement immediately spiked Athens, which expelled the Libyan ambassador on December 6.

Analysts say Turkey's rapprochement with Libya aims to secure the support of one of its few allies in the region, the GNA, and not to be ousted from the gas rush.

"Alliances create counter-alliances," ERT Antonis Klapsis, assistant professor of diplomacy at the University of the Peloponnese, told ERT Greek public television.

Greece, which usually turns to the European Union for major problems, has taken initiatives this time by forging alliances with Israel and Egypt, with which it is currently speeding up discussions to form an exclusive economic zone.

The Turkey-Libya deal has been condemned by US diplomats, but the position of Donald Trump, who has opposed his State Department in the past, remains unknown as the President was rather accommodating with his Turkish counterpart recently on the Syrian conflict.

"It's the kind of situation where you find out who your true friends and allies are," says Alexis Papachelas.

"It is very important that the countries of this zone show their muscles in the face of the provocations of Turkey," said Sunday Stelios Petsas, spokesman for the Greek government.

For his part, President Erdogan, who has also called several times to review decades-old territorial treaties with Greece, said on Sunday that Turkey "no longer has the luxury" of remaining silent on the issue.

"Greece and the countries that support it have long made their arrangements so that Turkey cannot lie on the sea," he said.

"We are the country with the longest coast in the Mediterranean, we are determined to fight to protect our rights to the end and by all means at our disposal," he warned.

With AFP

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