Ankara, Athens warily eye each other

Greece’s navy held extended preparedness exercises earlier this month, spanning from the Evros portion successful the northeast to Kastellorizo successful the south, with the information of the full fleet. [Defense Ministry via InTime News]

On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis are acceptable to conscionable successful New York, connected the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

However, a fewer days ago, specifically connected Sunday, September 14, it looked apt that the gathering would beryllium canceled amid tensions implicit a planned “research” expedition by the Turkish Piri Reis vessel west of the Greek islands of Lesvos and Chios. The purpose, ostensibly, is to hunt for apt lipid and earthy state reserves. Actually, it is portion of Turkey’s tactics aiming to quality Greek sovereignty implicit a ample swath of the Aegean, by promoting Ankara’s presumption that islands bash not person a continental shelf.

Confrontations betwixt the nominal allies and eternal rivals person mostly been toned down since aboriginal 2023 but bilateral relations person been analyzable by a bid of caller events that person irked Turkey: lipid multinational Chevron’s bid for exploration of resources south of Crete and the Peloponnese, which efficaciously disputes the Turkish-Libyan memorandum delimiting maritime zones, and Turkey’s apt exclusion from EU’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) defence procurement programme are the main causes.

In the end, the existing connection channels betwixt top and lower-level officials worked well: the gathering will take spot and it seems very apt that Piri Reis will either stay anchored successful the larboard of Izmir oregon bounds its expedition to Turkish territorial waters astatine slightest until the extremity of the UN Assembly. It is besides hoped that the two leaders will hold connected a way to modulate actions successful the Aegean successful a way that would not encroach connected either nation’s sovereignty and would beryllium compatible with planetary law: this woody would see work connected the Greece-Cyprus powerfulness grid connection.

Greek diplomacy is besides intimately monitoring Erdogan’s upcoming gathering with US President Donald Trump connected Thursday: afloat alert of Trump’s emotion of lucrative deals, Erdogan is offering to bargain 300 Boeing craft connected behalf of Turkish Airlines, the planetary person successful terms of planetary destinations served. Greek diplomats see the determination arsenic a bid to extract a committedness that the Congress-imposed artifact connected its buying F-35 fighters will beryllium lifted. 

On its part, Greece is assured that its strong networking successful Congress will assistance support the block, adjacent if Trump weighs successful in favour of the deal.