Saga of Turkey’s Mediterranean saber-rattling continues
A Turkish naval flotilla under the guise of a research mission continues to stoke tensions as the US and French send warships.
By SETH J. FRANTZMANTurkish seismic research vessel Oruc Reis is escorted by Turkish Navy ships as it sets sail in the Mediterranean Sea, off Antalya, Turkey, August 10, 2020(photo credit: TURKISH DEFENCE MINISTRY/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)Turkey continues to push a crisis in the Mediterranean a day after the US slammed Turkey for hosting Hamas. Ankara is now making more threatening comments against Greece and has raised eyebrows across Europe and the US as it pushes claims to a sea link between Turkey and Libya. It would cut off Greece from Cyprus, violate a Greek-Egypt deal and also harm an Israel-Greece-Cyprus pipeline deal. A Turkish naval flotilla under the guise of a research mission continues to stoke tensions, as the US and the French send warships.It is difficult to keep track of Turkey’s agenda because every day brings new Ankara policies. For instance, days ago Turkish pro-government media indicated that the Turkish naval flotilla stalking the Mediterranean off Greece would be coming home.Then the UAE sent F-16s to Crete to train with the Greeks, and the US slammed Turkey for hosting the Hamas terrorist group. Greece launched military exercises with France, Italy and Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean on Wednesday. The French sent Rafael jets and a frigate.France’s Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, said that Paris wants cooperation and does not want the sea becoming an area of instability.“It should not be a playground for the ambitions of some,” she said, in words aimed at Ankara. Al-Ain media in the Gulf is excited that France is joining the drills.Turkey is riding a wave of extremist nationalism and religious intolerance being pushed by the ruling AK Party. The party recently turned two historic churches into mosques in Istanbul, and has increasingly held rallies by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in which the country threatens to “liberate” Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque from Israel and threatens Greece, the UAE, Egypt and other countries.Turkey has invaded parts of northern Syria and ethnically cleansed the Kurdish region of Afrin. Turkey also continues to bomb areas in northern Iraq where minority Christians and Yazidis live. Turkey claims this is all part of an “anti-terror campaign,” even though there have been no terrorist attacks in Turkey in recent years. Meanwhile, actual ISIS terrorists continue to escape detention in eastern Syria to get to Turkey.As part of the wave of extremism in Ankara, there are growing demands to take over part of the Mediterranean. Turkey said on August 26 that it would make no concessions to Athens, after saying it wanted talks with no preconditions on Wednesday.The BBC and CNN are taking notice of the tensions now, looking into why NATO members Greece and Turkey are at odds. The US sent the USS Hershel Woody to the Mediterranean amid the tensions. The Russians could send more ships to the Mediterranean as well.Overall, the posture of France, the US, UAE, Greece and others is attempting to send a message to Turkey that its continued threats are taken seriously.Turkey has a long history of making threats and provoking various crises to its benefit. Just days ago, it seemed Turkey had turned its attention from the Mediterranean basin, was seeking talks and boasting about energy discoveries in the Black Sea. This would suggest that Turkey doesn’t need to explore energy sources in Greek-claimed waters. However, comments on Wednesday and France’s comments illustrate that the tensions don’t appear to be dying down.
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