Turkey claims sovereignty and gas from the Aegean islands

Just a few weeks after the meeting of the heads of state and government of the Alliance member states, Turkey has once again turned its attention to the aegean islands. A now Greek territory that has faced the two neighboring countries for decades.

In fact, for the last 50 years, Greece and Turkey have been on the verge of war in at least three times. The disputes span numerous issues, including sovereignty over uninhabited islets, alleged breaches of international treaties, and hydrocarbon exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean.

Tensions have been rising in recent months. This same May, Erdogan announced the breakdown of bilateral relations with Mitsotakis. However, the most recent confrontation has been caused by a photograph in which Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Turkish president’s partner party, appears holding a map. And not just any one, but one where the Greek islands of Crete, Lesbos, Chios and Samos appear marked in red; the color that according to the legend of the lower margin indicates the territory belonging to Turkey.

“A fever dream of extremists or the official policy of Turkey? Another provocation or the real objective?” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis asked in a tweet, demanding that Erdogan “make his position clear on the latest antics of its junior coalition partner. Likewise, the Government of Greece has underlined that it is a “provocation“.

However, this is not the first time Ankara has claimed sovereignty over the Aegean islands. At the beginning of this year, the Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, questioned the territorial integrity of the area, according to Europe Press. He did it after accusing Athens to “militarize” the islands, contrary to what international treaties say. “If Greece does not renounce it, the sovereignty of the islands could be discussed,” he warned on the country’s public television channel. TRT.

Precisely, Turkey’s complaints focus on the fact that its neighbor is arming the islands by land, sea and air, and thus violating the Lausanne Treaty of 1923. An agreement that prohibits Athens, among other things, from “establishing a naval base” and “flying over the territory of the Anatolian coast”, and limits the Greek military forces to the “normal contingent called for military service” in some islands. In others, the Treaty of Paris of 1947 it speaks only of demilitarization.

[Escalada de tensión en el Mediterráneo: Grecia y Turquía inician maniobras navales]

For the moment, the Greek authorities have neither confirmed nor denied this military activity, but they have demanded their right to defend themselves against Ankara’s expansionist wishes, especially after the Cyprus crisis in 1974.

Engaged in what he considers an illegal action, Erdogan warned in early June that if Greece did not “stop arming” the Aegean islands, there would be “catastrophic consequences”according to the Anatolia news agency.

Disputes over gas reserves

But despite the fact that Turkey alleges security issues, the truth is that the vast gas and oil deposits found in the eastern Mediterranean turn the Aegean islands into a strategic territory. Especially now that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused a deep energy crisis in the West.

For a long time, both have been ambitious to benefit from the reserves of these resources that have been discovered in recent years on the sea floor. An energy race that has led both countries to critical situations.

This is the case of the 2020 crisis, when Europe was about to wake up with a military confrontation between two NATO members. The escalation of tension occurred when a series of turkish military ships they headed for the Hellenic island of Kastellorizo ​​to prospect for gas.

Faced with this approach, Athens sent frigates to stop the Turks. The tension was relaxed thanks to the intervention of the then German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, who convinced Erdogan to withdraw.