Turkey is making a “comeback” in the region, said to KYPE Konstantinos Filis, a professor at the American University of Greece and director of the Institute of International Affairs, Konstantinos Filis, noting that the Mecca Agreement gives Turkey an enhanced role in the region.
Turkey, he added, “sees an alliance between Cyprus, Greece, and Israel, which deeply troubles it.”
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At the same time, he said that Turkey’s decision to declare national marine parks beyond its territorial waters is a confirmation of Turkey’s extreme conception of a “blue homeland”.
He noted that the Cyprus issue and Greek-Turkish relations are interconnected, while he stated that even if a five-party conference on the Cyprus issue were convened, given the positions being expressed, it is “doomed to failure.”
The Mecca Agreement gives Turkey an enhanced role
When asked about the Mecca Agreement on Mutual Defense recently signed by Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, Mr. Filis told CNA that Turkey has now elevated its role in the region, and even more so with the Mecca Agreement, because, as he essentially noted, “this is the first effort undertaken in the Middle East within the new security environment that is taking shape in the region, and it is the first attempt at a coalition of forces among states in the region.”
In any case, he continued, Turkey’s participation in this agreement gives it a greater role in the region, and this means that Turkey has even greater confidence regarding its position in the region and vis-à-vis Greece and Cyprus.
As for Egypt, Mr. Filis noted that Turkey has sought to build closer ties with Egypt because “a few years ago, Ankara was marginalized in the Eastern Mediterranean and had only the illegal Turkey-Libya agreement as a foothold.”
“Whereas, at present, Turkey has significantly restored its relationship with Egypt, and while Syria—which under Assad was a hostile country to Turkey—has now drawn closer, and Turkey is also trying to build ties with Lebanon, which signed the agreement with Cyprus on the delimitation of the EEZ severala few months ago, though the situation within Lebanon remains quite unstable,” he said.
Therefore, Mr. Filis emphasized, Turkey “is making a comeback in the region.”
He emphasized that the main obstacle for Turkey and for the implementation of its revisionist agenda in the region is primarily Greece and Cyprus, and secondarily Israel.
Turkey, he added, “sees an alliance between Cyprus, Greece, and Israel, which deeply troubles it and which it would like to break up in some way. It has not succeeded in doing so.”
Marine parks: a confirmation of Turkey’s extreme perception of the “blue homeland”
When asked about the marine parks Turkey has declared in the northeastern Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, Mr. Filis said that this move “is a confirmation of Turkey’s extreme interpretation of the ‘blue homeland,’ which stands in complete contrast to the Law of the Sea.”
He emphasized that no marine park, by its very nature as a national park, can extend beyond territorial waters.
“Turkey is inventing something that has nothing to do with the Law of the Sea and is extending its marine parks beyond territorial waters, which runs counter to every principle of the Law of the Sea.”
The Cyprus issue and Greek-Turkish relations are interconnected
When asked whether these two developments also have an impact on the Cyprus issue, Mr. Filis said that the Cyprus issue and Greek-Turkish relations are interconnected.
“If relations between Greece and Turkey are cordial—which they cannot be due to Turkish revisionism—but when there are periods when they are cordial, then this can have a positive impact on the Cyprus issue. When Greek-Turkish relations are strained, this negatively affects the Cyprus issue,” he said.
He went on to say that when there is a prospect of a resolution to the Cyprus issue, this can have a positive impact on Greek-Turkish relations – Turkey, whereas when there is no prospect of a solution to the Cyprus issue, it either has no effect at all or negatively affects Greek-Turkish relations.
The five-party talks are doomed to failure based on the positions taken
Regarding the convening of a five-party conference on the Cyprus issue, Mr. Filis assessed that, given the positions being expressed, it is “doomed to failure.”
“A five-party conference on the Cyprus issue could be convened. However, given the positions of the parties involved, it is doomed to failure,” he said.
“Even if the marine parks didn’t exist, it would still be doomed to failure. Nine years have passed since Crans-Montana, and during those nine years there have been periods of tension and détente in Greek-Turkish relations; yet we have not seenany positive developments on the Cyprus issue,” he concluded.
Source: CNA
