Page 14 - EurOil Week 24

EurOil POLICY EurOil

Turco-Greek relations tense as

Turkish drilling plans progress

TURKEY IN an escalating war of nerves between Athens
and Ankara, bilateral relations have deterio-
A Greek navy ship rated, sparking fears of a military confrontation
tried to inspect a cargo between the two NATO allies.
vessel off the Libyan Greek Defence Minister Nikolaos Panagiot-
coast but a Turkish opoulos recently highlighted his country’s “read-
military escort refused iness for military conflict with Turkey.”
access. On June 10, a Greek navy ship attempted to
inspect a cargo vessel off the Libyan coast but a
Turkish military escort refused access. Greece
has also protested against Turkish drilling plans
in 24 locations in the Mediterranean Sea that it
considers Greek territory. between the two countries.
A controversial maritime deal between Tur- “The instability will tend to continue through-
key and Libya’s Government of National Accord out 2020 for sure,” he said.
has also caused alarm. Antonopoulos also argued that Erdogan “is
fomenting issues… as a way to distract the pop-
Protest ulation from the severe economic situation”.
Greece had previously lodged a strong protest
with Turkey over the latter’s plans to expand Libyan deal
oil and gas exploration in areas of the Mediter- Relations in recent months have suffered after
ranean Sea that Greece considers its own. The Turkey clinched a controversial deal with Libya.
Greek government has warned that any drilling The agreement effectively allows Turkey to
in Greece’s continental shelf areas will spark a explore and exploit the Mediterranean seabed
heated response. Analysts warn that could spell for hundreds of miles, from its south-west coast
a war between the two NATO allies. to the northern tip of Libya.
In a short but strongly worded statement, The problem for Greece is that several Greek
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said islands, including Crete, lie in between and
Greece was ready to take on what he called experts see an armed conflict erupting if the
“the Turkish provocation”, warning that Ath- government in Athens thinks its territorial sov-
ens would respond if Ankara moved to start ereignty is being violated.
drilling in what it considers Greek waters. “A violent showdown is possible,” he said.
However, experts do not expect immedi- Erdogan, he added, is determined to assert
ate military confrontation between the two himself and Turkey’s interests in this important
countries. region.
Paul Antonopoulos, an expert on Tur- In recent years, the Eastern Mediterranean
co-Greek relations, commented: “It is unlikely has yielded significant gas discoveries.
that (President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan will Since then, Egypt, Greece, Israel and Cyprus
declare war, especially as Turkey is militarily have been jockeying for greater control of the
over-extended in Syria and Libya and is facing mineral-rich region, leaving Turkey alone to
an economic crisis.” search on its own, even if it may now spell a
Athens has also suggested that the Interna- showdown with Greece.
tional Court of Justice at The Hague be used to At the Delphi Economic Forum on June 11,
resolve the maritime issue, but Ankara does not Greek Deputy National Security Adviser Thanos
recognise its authority. Weighing in to the debate, Dokos pushed for greater regional co-operation
Russia’s ambassador to Athens. Andrei Maslov, in the eastern Mediterranean.
has proposed the need for strict observance of Greece and Egypt were reported to have
international law and the peaceful resolution of made little progress in discussions on mari-
conflicting views. time boundaries in the Mediterranean, with
Greek security analyst Ioannis Michale- the Egyptian side accusing the Greeks of mak-
tos does not predict a military confrontation ing false claims. Ankara appears to be moving
between the two countries. away from its warming relations with Moscow
“This is a scenario with very few probabilities and making diplomatic moves to bring Cairo
under the current circumstances. The contin- into a maritime agreement which could gain
uation of a tense atmosphere between the two it a huge expansion to its Exclusive Economic
countries for the foreseeable future, especially on Zone (EEZ) at the same time as increasing
the diplomatic front, is likely,” he told Arab News. its mutual trade with and LNG imports from
Michaletos does not anticipate a “break- Egypt. The doors for fresh alliances seem to be
through” soon for the deeply rooted divergences open. ™

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 24 18•June•2020