Turkey responds to the EU with military exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean

Turkey is not daunted by the naval air exercises of Greece, Cyprus, Italy and France in the eastern Mediterranean and is now responding this Thursday with the announcement of live-fire military manoeuvres for 1 and 2 September next off the coast of Iskederun, a town in the south-west of the country and very close to territory that Turkey controls on the island of Cyprus. The Arab Emirates also joined the European partners in this week's manoeuvres and sent two fighter planes to the Souda base in Cyprus, according to images provided to the Associated Press by the Greek Ministry of Defence.

Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said the country would not be deterred by the movements of the four European countries off its coast. "Our borders and principles are very clear. If they are violated, we will do what is appropriate", he said in an interview with the Turkish news agency Anadolu. Despite the threatening tone of the statements, Akar has also called for calm and stressed in his interview that they want peace, but has assured that they will claim their rights and that unwanted incidents may occur. Turkey has pointed to France as the main party responsible for stirring up trouble in the eastern Mediterranean by sending fighter planes to Cyprus and has accused it of violating the 1960 treaties on the island. 

All the European Union's warnings and attempts at appeasement have had no effect on Turkey's policy towards the eastern Mediterranean. Gas exploration in Turkey continues with the aim of finding hydrocarbons in the eastern Mediterranean. Athens describes these explorations as illegal because they are being carried out in waters which the country claims as its own. Ankara is also conducting research in the Black Sea, where it has found 320,000 cubic metres of gas this month, a tremendous finding that strengthens Turkey's aggressive foreign policy.

Meanwhile, in Berlin, the Greek Foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, has asked this Thursday in a meeting with the General Secretary of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, that the organisation should harden its response to Turkey and not "tolerate" Turkish actions against another partner. Dendias stressed that Turkey's operations in the eastern Mediterranean weaken the cohesion and effectiveness of the Alliance, while Stoltenberg made a new call for dialogue between the two neighbouring nations. "I am addressing Greece and Turkey. My message is this: the crisis must be resolved" with respect for international law, Stoltenberg warned, stating that "dialogue and détente is in everyone's interest". With this, Stoltenberg has joined the call for calm expressed this week by the German foreign minister Heiko Maas during his lightning visit to Athens and Ankara. So far with little success, neither in Greece nor in Turkey.

Athens has made clear that it expects that the EU will agree on a catalogue of possible sanctions in case Turkey does not stop the provocations at its meeting in Berlin this Thursday and Friday. While there are countries, led by Austria, which consider that the EU should show clearer solidarity with Greece and even withdraw candidate country status from Turkey, others, such as Germany, advocate continuing diplomatic efforts, concerned about issues such as the migration pact which closed the Balkan route to Syrian refugees.