The Turkish drilling rig in the eastern Mediterranean, the geopolitical dispute between Turkey-Greece and Cyprus, but also the powerless position of Brussels vis-à-vis Erdogan in the press.
Turkey is again sending a drilling rig to the eastern Mediterranean, thus putting a new dispute with Greece on the agenda, comments a publication in Süddeutsche Zeitung. As he observes, “the two NATO member states have been arguing for years over the ownership and mining rights of the mineral resources on the seabed.”
According to the statements of the Turkish Minister of Energy, Fatih Donmez, the drilling rig will start its work in the “Blue Homeland”, a term that, as the Munich newspaper points out, is politically charged “as Turkey uses it to express its claims in large parts of the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean. (…) Turkey considers that its right to a possible exploitation (including natural resources in the Aegean) is hindered because Greece, relying even on tiny, uninhabited rocky islands, has demarcated its borders around its islands at the expense of Turkey. However, as an EU member state, Greece’s maritime borders are internationally recognized. Athens – unlike Ankara – is also a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 1982, which establishes the legal framework for activities in marine waters and oceans”. However, Turkey has never joined the convention and does not feel bound by it, the article adds characteristically, adding that “Cyprus is also part of this Greek-Turkish dispute, as there are natural gas deposits around the divided Mediterranean island. There the The Republic of Cyprus, an EU member state, and Turkey, as well as the northern part of Cyprus occupied by Turkey in 1974, are fighting over access rights, but the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” is recognized as a state only by Anchor”.
Dissatisfaction is growing in Brussels
The newspaper Handelsblatt focuses on another aspect: Brussels’ irritation towards Erdogan’s moves. Referring to the EU’s stance, however, she underlines that “the balance is delicate, as relations between Turkey and the EU are already problematic. In Brussels, discontent against Erdogan seems to be growing for weeks. Not only his challenges to Greece and Cyprus , but also his rapprochement with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and other authoritarian leaders appear to anger partners.”
Nevertheless, as the newspaper reports, “there are several reasons why an EU and US reaction against the NATO partner and candidate for EU membership is considered unlikely: Turkey’s importance is now too great for there to be a harsh reaction against it .Furthermore, EU foreign ministers are not due to meet again until the end of August. Therefore, no European response to Erdogan’s antics is expected before that meeting. The Turkish leader knows very well that he has free rein from the West , which could spark further tensions against the EU in the coming months and ahead of crucial elections in his country.”
Of course, according to the newspaper’s correspondents in Brussels and Istanbul, “discussions about Erdoğan’s harassment take place only in closed circles and are reproduced in Ankara through low diplomatic channels. Publicly, however, the Commission and the member states keep a fishy silence. Reason, that a public rebuke would hardly make an impression on the Turkish president – which would in turn underline how powerless Brussels is.”
Chrysa Vakhcevanou
SOURCE: Deutsche Welle
Source: Capital
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