Turkey stresses its challenge in the Eastern Mediterranean
Turkey is maintaining its aggressive attitude in the eastern Mediterranean aimed at gaining an increasingly geostrategic presence in the area and acquiring greater hydrocarbon resources for its own economic benefit at a time of serious financial crisis in the Ottoman country.
The nation presided over by Recep Tayyip Erdogan has conducted new naval exercises in the eastern Mediterranean, as confirmed by the defence ministry, in a scenario of confrontation with the European Union (EU) and states in the European sphere such as Greece and Cyprus, which have been denouncing the violation of their own maritime borders for months through energy prospecting carried out by Turkish ships in waters considered to be their own.
The EU raised possible sanctions against Turkey for its "illegal and aggressive" actions in the area. This has not deterred Turkey from carrying out naval manoeuvres in the Eastern Mediterranean. Thus, the Ottoman Ministry of Defence confirmed on its Twitter account that "elements of our naval command" conducted the exercises, without specifying the exact location within the "Eastern Mediterranean".
The ministerial body even published photos showing warships firing a cannon.
Turkey has already shown its disagreement with EU members Greece and Cyprus over energy resources in disputed waters in the eastern Mediterranean. The confrontation over energy resources in nearby waters between Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a nation recognised only by Turkey itself, which is the backbone of this state in the north of the island of Cyprus created after the island's division in the 1970s, is well known. The confrontation between the Turkish Cypriot north and the Greek Cypriot south has been going on for a long time and has now been magnified by the clash over the exploitation of the area's gas and oil resources.
The military exercises follow an announcement of the European Union on 10 December of plans to impose sanctions on Turkey for its "illegal and aggressive" actions in the area.
Under this scenario, on Friday, the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, through a video conference, that Turkey wants to turn the page with the EU and seems to have extended its hand for a possible agreement. But these last manoeuvres do not go in this line of pacification and search for understanding. Erdogan even pointed out that Turkey's attitude was "constructive", while he accused Greece of running away from the talks, despite the fact that the Ottoman country is pointed out by several international analysts and actors for carrying out a belligerent and expansionist policy in the Mediterranean and Middle East arc, even by participating in civil wars such as those of Syria and Libya in favour of their own interests and even by using, as various experts have been denouncing, mercenaries for hire linked to groups that were once linked to Jihadist terrorist entities such as Daesh and al-Qaeda.