There are disagreements between Ankara and Athens both in the Eastern Mediterranean and in the Aegean Sea.
The Republic of Cyprus, which Turkey does not recognize, has entered into an agreement with international companies to create an exclusive economic zone (EEZ). In turn, Ankara believes that such agreements cannot operate unilaterally.
Selcuk Colakoglu, Advisor to the Center for Strategic Studies of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, said this in a comment for PolitExpert.
“These are problems that have not been solved for years. We offer Greece preliminary negotiations. It is impossible to tell how far they will go. This could lead to an all-out war in Cyprus. But if there is peace, it will solve all the problems, and for Athens it can become a great trump card”, – the expert noted.
As Colakoglu stressed, Athens called to deprive Turkey of NATO membership, but Ankara is not worried.
“Each NATO member has the right of veto, it is impossible to exclude a country from the Alliance against its will. Thus, Turkey cannot be removed from NATO if it does not want to. By the way, during the Cold War, France and Greece left the military bloc of their own accord, and then returned again, including with the approval of Turkey”, – he said.
At the same time, Colakoglu noted that NATO and the EU are already trying to restore political dialogue between the countries, and military delegations have met in order to reduce tensions.
In conclusion, the expert added that tough sanctions against Turkey are not expected from the EU either.
“France openly expresses support for Greece and the Republic of Cyprus due to the conflict with Turkey in Libya. But Germany, Italy and Spain, which are also members of the EU and NATO, do not support the introduction of tough sanctions due to the problem of refugees and economic interests in Turkey”, – he concluded.