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reTurkey has openly threatened Greece with a military conflict in the event of an expansion of its territorial waters in the Aegean Sea. “If that’s not a reason for war, what else?” Said Vice President Fuat Oktay of the state news agency Anadolu. “That would be a reason for a war, the Casus Belli,” said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
The government of Athens criticized the Turkish threat. Turkey’s tactic of threatening its neighbors with war if they try to implement their legal rights is “against international political culture,” the Foreign Ministry in Athens said.
Turkey wants to defend rights no matter the cost
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced in parliament on Wednesday that Greece was expanding its sovereign territory in the Ionian Sea, which faces Italy, from 6 to 12 nautical miles. In maritime areas where other countries are more than 24 nautical miles apart, this could possibly also happen. Athens is ready to enter into dialogue with Turkey defining the continental shelf and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean.
Oktay said Ankara will defend its rights at sea no matter the cost. He also asked the EU to be “fair.” The European Union is not an international court that determines what is right and what is wrong. EU foreign ministers asked Ankara on Friday for a final dialogue with Greece. Otherwise, the special EU summit on September 24 could discuss further punitive measures against Turkey.
As early as 1995, the Turkish parliament declared an expansion of Greek territorial waters in the Aegean Sea as a reason for war for Turkey. Because then, due to the numerous Greek islands, the Aegean would virtually become a Greek lake.
Tensions between the two NATO member states and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have increased dramatically over a dispute over submarine raw materials. Large natural gas reserves are believed to be in the eastern Mediterranean and Turkey is exploring underground in marine areas claimed by Cyprus or Greece. The Greek and Turkish armed forces are conducting exercises in the region. France, in particular, participated in the Greek exercises and the United States Navy in the Turkish exercises.
On Friday, Turkey said it had intercepted 6 Greek F-16 fighter jets east of Cyprus. Previously, she had extended the work of her seismic reconnaissance ship “Oruc Reis” there for five days until 1 September. On Saturday, Ankara announced new target practice in the eastern Mediterranean off the southern coast of Turkey.
