Cyprus, Greece and Egypt condemn Turkey's actions in the Eastern Mediterranean

The leaders of Cyprus, Greece and Egypt condemned this Wednesday in Nicosia the escalation of provocations by Turkey and its prospecting operations in both Cyprus and Greek waters which, in their opinion, "put stability and peace in the region at risk".

At the eighth trilateral summit held today, the presidents of Cyprus, Nikos Anastasiadis, and Egypt, Abdelafatah al-Sisi, and the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, discussed energy cooperation, migration, the fight against terrorism, the situation in Syria and Libya, the peace process in the Middle East and the coronavirus pandemic.

The Cypriot president referred to various affronts on Ankara's part, such as the exploration in the maritime areas of Cyprus and Greece and the recent opening of the beach in the Varosha district, which has been sealed off as a military zone in the self-proclaimed Republic of Northern Cyprus (RTNC) for 46 years and runs counter to UN resolutions.

In his speech, Anastasiadis stressed that "Turkey is violating stability with a series of illegal actions". Turkey has been under its military control of Northern Cyprus since 1974 and the fate of Varosha has been key in all peace negotiations since then.

Anastasiadis said that the three countries "call upon Turkey to permanently abstain from such actions in the future, thus contributing to create the conditions for dialogue, which cannot be carried out in an aggressive environment or under the threat of using force".

Despite the joint message to Turkey, Anastasiadis stressed that this "tripartite cooperation is not directed against anyone, but promotes security and stability in the region". The three leaders signed a joint declaration, called the "Nicosia Declaration", which sets out their position on various regional issues and provides for the creation of a permanent mechanism to monitor the achievement of the agreed objectives.

Mitsotakis, for his part, said that Ankara "dreams of imperialist practices, aggressive actions, from Syria to Libya, from Somalia to Cyprus, from the Aegean to the Caucasus" accompanied by "unilateral acts that violate international law".

The Greek Prime Minister repeated his request to the EU to suspend the export of arms to Turkey. For his part, Al-Sisi stressed the good cooperation between the three countries, which he described as "a space for our common visions in various sectors and the coordination of positions on regional and international issues".

The first trilateral summit was held in Egypt in 2014, and since then the three countries have decided to regularly strengthen their economic, energy and security ties.
 

Greek diplomacy is striving for a clear EU response to the crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean, claiming that the benevolent approach and dialogue "have not worked with Turkey, which persists in its bully-dog attitude".
In a letter from the Greek foreign minister, Nikos Dendias, to the EU's High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, Athens has stressed that Turkey's continuing belligerent stance must spur European solidarity.

He also referred to the article in the treaties which states that the other Member States have an obligation to help and assist by all means available to them if a Member State is the victim of armed aggression on its territory.

"Dialogue and a benevolent approach to differences are the European tools and have been used repeatedly with Ankara so far", he criticised in his letter to the head of Community diplomacy, who stressed that it is up to the EU "to use the remedy before it has to deal with damage that is impossible to repair". 

Dendias thus stressed that European solidarity is "the only way out" of Turkey's "bully" behaviour. In the letter, which is full of allusions to Turkey's belligerent behaviour, the Greek foreign minister regrets that Ankara has created an "unsustainable" situation in the region and an "explosive" climate in which peace and stability are in check.

"When the existing rules do not serve its aims, Turkey unilaterally creates new rules following the logic that the other parties bow to the pressure", said Dendias, who explained that the new Turkish Search and Rescue Service Law is a new example of the behaviour of Recep Tayyip Erdogan's executive, who has included territories of Greek sovereignty as Turkish areas of action.

"This regulation is contrary to international law and is a rule based purely on political criteria", insisted the Greek minister, who pointed out that this is in addition to Ankara's belligerent behaviour in Mediterranean waters, where it is continuing its prospective exploration activity, despite repeated warnings from the EU.

This initiative of Athens joins Dendias' letter to his counterparts in Spain, Germany and Italy to stop the sale of arms and defence material to Turkey for its "recent provocations" in the Mediterranean, as reported by the Greek newspaper 'Kathimerini'.

A third letter has been sent to the Commissioner for Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi, as confirmed by the Community executive. According to the Greek press, the letter is about Ankara's failure to comply with the customs agreement.

At the meeting of EU leaders last Friday, Mitsotakis raised the possibility of including the arms embargo against Turkey, various diplomatic sources have confirmed.

However, this request did not meet with the consensus of his European colleagues, who finally opted to reiterate the warning to Turkey expressed at the summit a fortnight ago, on 1 and 2 October, to prioritise dialogue and review the situation in December, without ruling out the possibility of imposing sanctions.