Separation Measures or NATO between Turkey and Greece

The agenda included a discussion of the so-called "measures of separation" of the parties. The conversation took place against the backdrop of a statement made on the same day by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis about Athens' readiness for an immediate dialogue in case of concrete steps from Ankara, since “in the situation with a crisis in relations with Turkey, the interests of not only Greece, but the entire European Union are at stake” (aa.com.tr).

In order to understand what could have been discussed inside the NATO doors and for what reason exactly “inside” the North Atlantic alliance Greece and Turkey are trying to return to dialogue, it is advisable to recall some episodes from recent history.

As you know, in January 2020, Greece, Cyprus and Israel signed an agreement on the construction of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Pipeline (EastMed), the resource base of which is the Leviathan field on the shelf of Israel (the operator of the development is the American Chevron). From here, blue fuel should be supplied along the route: Cyprus - Greece - Italy and further to other European countries.

It is quite symptomatic that at the beginning of 2017, it was about the delivery of Israeli offshore gas to Europe via Turkey (neftegaz.ru), but soon Ankara found itself outside EastMed and today continues to take an irreconcilable position in relation to the gas pipeline, through the mouth of the country's Foreign Ministry officials declaring that any projects "without taking into account the interests of Turkey, which has the longest coastline in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Turkish Cypriots, who have equal rights to the natural resources of the island of Cyprus, cannot be successful" (tj.sputniknews.ru).

In this scenario, the most important factor is the memorandum of understanding signed at the end of 2019 between Turkey and Libya on the sea zones. The subtlety here is that the agreements on the division of the sea shelf allowed Ankara to extend its jurisdiction to the territory of the EastMed laying. Yes, in response, the EU declared Ankara's claims legally unfounded, but the commissioning of this gas pipeline now requires the permission and consent of the Turks. Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said in hot pursuit, “The agreement defined a part of Turkey's maritime jurisdictions in the region, and it is in line with the decisions of the courts that shape international jurisprudence and international law, including the relevant articles of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Through this agreement, the two countries clearly demonstrated their intention to prevent a fait accompli settlement of the Eastern Mediterranean problem” (mk-turkey.ru).

The fact is that the signed memorandum included a new delimitation of sea borders, including the water area between Crete and Cyprus. And already in May Turkish Petroleum announced its intention to start exploration in 24 offshore blocks up to the sea border with Libya. Naturally, this development of events caused a demarche between Greece and Cyprus. Athens announced its readiness for any development of events, up to the military, and Nicosia announced that Turkey's actions on the "controversial shelf" undermined the prospects for the country's entry into the European Union (oilcapital.ru).

Interestingly, what is happening around the rapprochement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates is also viewed in Turkey (including) through the prism of EastMed. As noted by Turkish sources, building a special relationship with Abu Dhabi, Israel reduces the risks of supplying raw materials from Iraqi Kurdistan through Turkey. In other words, although supplies from Iraq (via Turkey) are economically most profitable for Israel, they fear dependence on this issue from Ankara due to a number of contradictions in Turkish-Israeli relations. In addition, Iranian influence in Iraq is also causing concern among Israelis. On the other hand, the UAE is interested in building EastMed to damage the delivery of gas to Europe from Qatar and weaken Turkey's position in the Mediterranean (eadaily.com).

Be that as it may, the situation was more than once close to spinning out of control. So, in the spring of 2019, Ankara sent its own drilling vessel Fatih to the coast of Cyprus, which caused a storm of indignation from the Greek and Cypriot authorities. The latter even issued an arrest warrant for the ship's crew. Washington and Brussels urged Ankara to abandon drilling, but it responded by sending a second drilling vessel, Yavuz. In the summer of this year, when Turkey announced plans to organize seismic exploration on the sea shelf in the area between the islands of Kastelorizo, Rhodes and Crete - two kilometers from the coast of the country and almost 600 kilometers from mainland Greece (Ankara considers this territory to be part of its own continental shelf), - the Greek armed forces were put on high alert (balkanist.ru).

Well, at the beginning of this September, the Turks began military exercises in the waters of the island of Cyprus, which led to the strengthening of the border troops by the Greeks.

In light of what is happening, one can draw attention to an article in the British Independent, which does not exclude Turkey's plans to "exert pressure without provoking a full-scale confrontation with the European powers, Egypt or Israel, but in such a way that this pressure was sufficient" for the United States to assume the role "Final solution intermediary" (eurotopics.net).

Probably, even these minimal data are enough to understand the reason why NATO is now between Greece and Turkey. Apparently, the parties are trying to come to an agreement, since the next meeting of the military delegations of the two countries is scheduled for September 17.