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Shortly before the EU decision on sanctions against Turkey in the Mediterranean dispute, Ankara is facing the whole of Europe. Turkey’s army, air force and navy mustered strong units on Sunday for a maneuver on the divided island of Cyprus, which is believed to be close to large natural gas reserves.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned neighboring Greece of “painful experiences” on the battlefield if the conflict escalated. Chancellor Mevlüt Cavusoglu attacked French President Emmanuel Macron and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
Ankara believes it can afford the hard line: If the EU adopts sanctions, Turkey wants to end the refugee deal.
Fighter jets, warships, combat drones, submarines, helicopters and soldiers from Turkey and the Turkish part of the island are taking part in the multi-day maneuver in Cyprus. The military exercise, named after a Turkish pilot assassinated by the Greek Cypriots in 1964, takes place every year, but this time it is intended to be a show of power in the Mediterranean dispute, as the official newspaper “Yeni Safak” noted.
The march on the island, the Greek part of which is part of the EU, dovetails with Erdogan’s sharp rhetoric. His country is strong enough politically, economically and militarily to “tear up immoral cards and documents,” the president said Saturday.
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Aggressive act
It refers to the Greek territorial claims in the Aegean and the Mediterranean, which Turkey rejects as excessive. Ankara is looking for natural gas in disputed waters around Cyprus and near the Greek islands. Greece considers it an aggressive act.
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In ranks, Turkish government politicians spoke harshly against the EU. Cavusoglu said Macron had fallen into “hysteria” over Turkey’s military engagement in Libya. At the same time, he attacked Chancellor Kurz, who had accused Erdogan of using the Turks in Europe for his political ends. Cavusoglu accused Kurz of having a “sick mentality”.
Numan Kurtulmus, vice chairman of Erdogan’s ruling AKP party, addressed EU Council President Charles Michel, who had outlined an EU “carrot and stick” tactic against Turkey. Michel meant a mixture of sanctions and incentives, such as additional payments on refugee policy.
Kurtulmus complained that Michel had absolutely nothing to say to Turkey. The Ankara government denied reports that 40 tanks had been relocated to the land border with Greece due to tension with Athens. The relocation had been planned for a long time and had nothing to do with the current crisis.
At the end of the month, the EU wants to discuss the demands of Greece, Cyprus and France for sanctions against Turkey. Important opponents of Turkey in the EU are already meeting this Thursday in Corsica for a summit of the Mediterranean countries of the EU.
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Deutschland sträubte sich bisher gegen Sanktionen und versuchte, zwischen der Türkei und Griechenland zu vermitteln. Macron sagte jedoch, Deutschland und andere EU-Staaten schwenkten inzwischen auf die französische Linie ein: „Jetzt sehen alle, dass es ein Problem gibt.“
Frankreich mächtigster Gegner Ankaras
Der französische Präsident ist der mächtigste Türkei-Kritiker in der EU. Er sieht die türkische Politik in Libyen und im östlichen Mittelmeer als Versuch Erdogans, an die Herrschaft des Osmanischen Reiches in der Region anzuknüpfen.
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In a video message for a conference in Lugano, Switzerland, Macron said that Turkey was acting on a “fantasy of its history” and was benefiting from a US and NATO withdrawal from the area. Macron recently sent the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to the eastern Mediterranean to help Greece.
Brussels is considering imposing sanctions on ships and companies involved in Turkey’s controversial gas hunt. In a further step, entire sectors of the Turkish economy could be punished with punitive measures.
However, Ankara is not impressed. She does not believe there are any EU sanctions, AKP spokesman Ömer Celik said. If so, Turkey will stop cooperating with the EU on the refugee issue. In March, Erdogan temporarily opened the border with Greece to refugees to put pressure on Europe.
