Ahead of this week’s NATO summit in London, fresh developments in the eastern Mediterranean Sea will likely add to a long list of tensions between Turkey and allied nations as the bloc celebrates its 70th anniversary.
On Nov. 27, Ankara signed an agreement with Libya’s internationally recognized government denoting new maritime boundaries between the two nations. The area spanning from southwest Turkey to northeast Libya cuts across a zone currently claimed by Greece and Cyprus, where plans for a future gas pipeline are in the works to link eastern Mediterranean gas fields with European markets.
The agreement comes as Turkish ships continue gas exploration and drilling activities within Cyprus’ territorial waters, actions Ankara claims are necessary to ensure gas revenues are shared between the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is recognized solely by Turkey. The latest move further escalates tensions between the nations, which hold conflicting claims over the development of eastern Mediterranean energy resources.
Jalel Harchaoui, a research fellow specializing in Libya at the Clingendael Institute, said Turkish officials were likely reacting to their nation’s isolation from ongoing energy developments in the region following the establishment of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum earlier this year between the Republic of Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt and Italy.
Great-Britain and Grecce are signatories – with Turkey – of the 1960 treaty of Nicosia which guaranty the independance , integrity , stability of Cyprus . Now this crisis is of the same kind of the Falklands war in 1982 between a predatory agressive dictature (Argentine ) and a western democracy ( Great Britain ) . But there is no Margaret Tatcher around in Britain nor in Greece and nowhere in Europe to stop Erdogan continuous agressions . E.U is driven by weak leaders who are afraid of their polls ratings . Therefore Erdogan can continue his hitler wave of agressions all around the mediterranean .
There is no reason for Libya and Turkey to have any discussions about naval boundaries. Libya’s norther naval boundaries should be negotiated with Italy, Malta, and Greece. Other boundaries are Egypt and Tunisia. And good luck to Turkey when it tries to negotiate its Med borders with Greece, Cyprus, and Syria. It is already time for the USA and EU to clip Turkey’s wings. And as for Libya, they are beyond a joke.