The ‘blue magic’ between Turkey and Greece
Former Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, in a poem he wrote in 1947 in London, described Turkish-Greek relations as: “A blue magic between us, and this warm sea, and two peoples on its shores, equals in beauty. The golden age of the Aegean will revive through us, as with the fire of the future. The hearth of the past comes alive.”
In recent decades, however, that “blue magic” has experienced its ups and downs, boiling over and calming down on occasion, causing severe tensions in Turkish-Greek relations.
The relationship between Athens and Ankara has never been an easy one. The neighbors even came to the brink of war in 1996 over the Aegean islets of Kardak (Imia, in Greek), which are claimed by both countries. Last month marked the 23rd anniversary of the Kardak crisis in the eastern Aegean, and it continues to fuel tensions between the NATO members.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will pay an official visit to Turkey on Feb. 5, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan extended an invitation on the sidelines of a UN summit in New York in late September, according to Greek media.
There will be a number of issues on the agenda, including stalled peace talks on Cyprus, which since 1974 has been divided between the Greek Cypriot administration and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, natural gas reserves in the Mediterranean Sea, and sovereignty and related rights in the area of the Aegean.
One of the hottest topics in Turkish-Greek relations, which also includes the interests of several other countries, is the dispute over gas explorations in the eastern Mediterranean. The discovery of natural gas offshore in 2014-2015, in which the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot sides both feel they have a stake, raised tensions over the rights issues, with the Greek side cooperating with other countries at the expense of Turkey. Both Turkey and Greece have stepped up parallel exploration operations for underwater resources in the eastern Mediterranean, and what is happening in the waters around these two neighbors not only affects them but also other nearby nations.
Greece, the Greek-Cypriot administration, Egypt, Israel, Italy and Jordan recently met in Cairo to form an Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum with the purpose of developing cooperation with each other. Turkey, which was excluded from the forum, is a historic rival of Greece, has strained diplomatic ties with Egypt and Israel, and does not recognize the Greek-Cypriot administration as the “Republic of Cyprus.”
One of the hottest topics in Turkish-Greek relations is the dispute over gas explorations in the eastern Mediterranean.
Sinem Cengiz
Ankara has been irritated by the behavior of Greece and the Greek-Cypriot administration during the hydrocarbon explorations in the Eastern Mediterranean, which has received support from several European and regional states. Moreover, recently the US has been making increased efforts to encourage Greece and other countries in the region to establish an eastern Mediterranean security alliance, at the same time its NATO ally Turkey is closing ranks with Russia and Iran in the Syrian conflict.
Amid the decision to withdraw American troops from Syria, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month described the Mediterranean region as “an important strategic frontier,” adding that Washington would work to reinforce its relations with Greece, Israel and the Greek-Cypriot administration. Meanwhile, the same US administration is at odds with Ankara on a number of issues and the two NATO allies are no longer on the same page in regional affairs, particularly regarding Syria.
The Cyprus issue has never been a matter solely involving Turkey and Greece; there are a number of other interested parties, such as the EU, which further complicates the situation. Similarly, the eastern Mediterranean issue not only involves the two neighbors, but also larger powers such as the US and Russia, and it seems like two opposing camps have formed: With US-backed Greece and its new allies on one side, and Turkey and Russia on the other. Moscow is a supplier of natural gas to Europe and is concerned about losing its leverage over the EU amid shrinking geopolitical balances.
On Jan. 31, the Turkish Foreign Ministry slammed a joint declaration on Cyprus and the hydrocarbon activities in the eastern Mediterranean that was adopted during the Fifth Summit of the Southern European Union Countries (Med7), which was hosted by the Greek Cypriot administration on Jan. 29. The ministry said “the move provides yet another example of the unfair and unconstructive attitude maintained by certain EU members in the name of the so-called Union solidarity.”
It was reported that Tsipras will convey the messages from the summit to Erdogan. The former has said that when he met the latter in July last year, it “wasn’t the easiest of meetings.” It will, therefore, be interesting to see how their upcoming talks go, given the complicated background of the eastern Mediterranean issue and the stalled Cyprus talks.
- Sinem Cengiz is a Turkish political analyst who specializes in Turkey’s relations with the Middle East.
Twitter: @SinemCngz
