Categories
Further interest

Greek Turkish News Sources

The following includes links and articles pertaining to the increasing Turkish aggression against Greece and Cyprus. Full articles below the links.

Updated June 6, 2022

Links

https://www.ekathimerini.com/opinion/1186076/on-erdogan-the-west-and-greek-turkish-relations/

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18434/turkey-aggression-greece-airspace

https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1175443/greece-says-turkey-distorts-the-reality-of-its-history/

https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/pakistan-china-turkey-nexus-a-cause-of-serious-concern-for-greece-122011500239_1.html

https://www.thenationalherald.com/eu-mulls-sanctions-for-turkey-opening-varosha-resort-on-cyprus/

https://www.businessinsider.com/us-greece-expand-defense-cooperation-amid-tension-with-turkey-russia-2021-11

https://www.thenationalherald.com/greece_politics/arthro/greece_france_ink_mutual_defense_deal_5b_euros_warships_purchase-3322154/

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17721/erdogan-afghanistan-terrorists

https://orthodoxtimes.com/greek-foreign-ministry-condemns-turkish-plans-on-varosha-calls-for-respect-of-un-resolutions/

https://www.thenationalherald.com/greece_politics/arthro/greece_rethinks_sanctions_call_for_turkey_biden_will_talk_to_erdogan-2656899/

https://www.thenationalherald.com/greece_politics/arthro/greece_s_diplomatic_push_paying_off_building_allies_against_turkey-2521827/

https://www.thenationalherald.com/greece_politics/arthro/turkey_conducts_maneuvers_in_greek_waters_greece_protests_again-2480342/

https://www.thenationalherald.com/greece_politics/arthro/greece_wants_eu_arms_embargo_on_turkey_targets_german_subs-2374784/

https://www.npr.org/2021/04/29/992122443/standoff-between-greece-and-turkey-over-cyprus-remains-in-place

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/15/greek-turkish-ministers-clash-at-press-conference

https://www.voanews.com/europe/greece-slams-turkey-over-pkk-terror-claims

https://www.jpost.com/international/turkey-accuses-greece-of-supporting-terror-without-evidence-664742

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1818136/world

https://www.thenationalherald.com/greece_politics/arthro/turkey_wants_aegean_sea_name_changed_keeps_provoking_greece-1885475/

https://greekcitytimes.com/2021/02/12/mitsotakis-erdogans-permission/

https://www.thenationalherald.com/greece_politics/arthro/greece_seeks_gulf_allies_to_counter_tension_with_turkey_pics_vids-1775746/

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1802681/middle-east

https://sallux.eu/Sallux%20-%20European%20security,%20Turkish%20aggression%20and%20Article%205%20NATO%20-%20WEB.pdf

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/25/greece-and-turkey-in-talks-to-try-to-avert-military-escalation

https://www.dw.com/en/greece-extends-coastal-claim-to-ionian-sea-waters-indirectly-warns-turkey/a-56294202

https://greekcitytimes.com/2021/01/12/greece-turkey-begin-talks/

https://orthodoxtimes.com/greek-fm-extension-of-the-coastal-zone-in-ionian-sea-a-historic-moment-for-greece/

https://www.thenationalherald.com/greece_politics/arthro/turkey_s_defense_chief_demands_greece_take_troops_off_islands-1499008/

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/turkey-urges-greece-to-act-in-responsible-manner/2089502

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/12/22/erdogan-greek-consul-general-smyrna/

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/12/23/a-turbulent-2020-spurs-greece-to-rearm

https://greece.greekreporter.com/2020/12/22/germany-rejects-greeces-demand-for-a-ban-on-weapon-sales-to-turkey/

https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/12/21/ukraine-to-buy-turkish-warships-co-produce-drones/

https://www.thenationalherald.com/cyprus_politics/arthro/turkey_s_foreign_minister_says_no_federation_for_cyprus_wants_two_states-1420143/

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/12/14/greek-muslims-turk-consulate-rhodes/

https://www.thenationalherald.com/greece_politics/arthro/even_france_turned_on_greece_mitsotakis_at_eu_s_turkish_walkoff-1395749/

https://www.thenationalherald.com/greece_politics/arthro/erdogan_wins_eu_backs_off_sanctions_over_greece_cyprus_provocations-1383779/

https://www.thenationalherald.com/cyprus_politics/arthro/israel_rejects_turkey_maritime_deal_that_would_isolate_cyprus-1358990/

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/12/04/turkish-opposition-greek-libya/

https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/nato-talks-on-east-med-called-off-due-to-greeces-absence-160576

https://www.ekathimerini.com/259793/article/ekathimerini/news/stoltenberg-vows-to-boost-greece-turkey-deconfliction-mechanism

https://www.voanews.com/europe/greece-slams-turkey-deadly-migrant-vessel-sinking

https://www.ekathimerini.com/259847/article/ekathimerini/news/turkey-must-stop-its-aggressiveness-towards-greece-says-burns

https://www.politico.eu/article/greece-blasts-berlin-for-shunning-plea-for-turkey-arms-embargo/

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/11/27/erdogan-syncretism-greater-turkey/

https://www.thenationalherald.com/greece_economy/arthro/aimed_at_turkey_greece_uae_signed_mutal_defense_pact-1269412/

https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-calls-on-greece-for-dialogue-on-e-med-160233

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/11/09/dendias-germany-turkey-soft/

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/11/05/asylum-seekers-greece-turkey-mp/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/1/turkey-extends-disputed-east-med-gas-exploration-mission-again

https://www.thenationalherald.com/greece_politics/arthro/pompeo_expresses_us_support_for_greek_positions_in_a_letter_to_fm_dendias-1129311/

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/10/29/turkish-soldiers-greece/

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/10/29/turkish-drones-greece-tank/

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1754416/world

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/10/27/pompeo-f-35-greece-turkey/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-26/turkey-greece-feud-escalates-after-they-cancel-war-games

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-10-26/greece-turkey-wrangle-over-military-games-in-eastern-

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/10/26/lavrov-greece-12-miles/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/25/turkey-extends-exploration-in-disputed-mediterranean-area

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/10/24/erdogan-counters-nato-again-as-turkey-releases-new-navtex/

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/10/24/egyptian-erdogan-greece/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/23/greece-and-turkey-agree-to-cancel-war-games-nato-chief

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/10/24/turkey-syrian-mercenaries-greek/

https://www.voanews.com/europe/greece-puts-navy-alert-turkey-tensions-flare-again

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/10/21/italian-admiral-greece-turkey/

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/10/21/russia-turkey-greece-navarino/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/20/greece-extends-wall-on-turkish-border-as-refugee-row-deepens

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/10/20/protest-turkey-evros/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/20/greece-asks-eu-to-consider-suspending-customs-union-with-turkey

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/greece-finalizes-plan-build-wall-border-turkey-73693842

https://apnews.com/article/turkey-mustafa-akinci-ankara-greece-cyprus-b0d000e4c1140168fe10448ee08b3aa2

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/10/17/erdogan-will-conflict-greece/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/16/greece-cyprus-seek-more-eu-pressure-to-stop-provocative-turkey

https://apnews.com/article/international-news-turkey-ankara-baghdad-greece-494c598b2b846c5257d3452615b2aed1

https://www.ekathimerini.com/258112/article/ekathimerini/news/turkey-denies-deliberately-holding-greek-plane-in-the-air

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/14/east-med-crisis-erdogan-ramps-rhetoric-against-greece-cyprus

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/12/europe/greece-turkey-tensions-survey-ship-eastern-mediterranean-intl/index.html

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/12/greece-calls-turkeys-survey-in-east-med-major-escalation

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54504123

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-10-11/turkey-to-conduct-seismic-survey-in-eastern-mediterranean

https://www.thenationalherald.com/greece_politics/arthro/turkey_blindsides_greece_energy_ship_will_near_kastellorizo-1001308/

https://www.ekathimerini.com/257871/article/ekathimerini/news/date-sought-for-greece-turkey-exploratory-contacts

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-erdogan-jerusalem-is-ours-what-really-stands-behind-turkey-hagia-sophia-church-of-the-holy-sepulchre-1.9207465

https://www.thenationalherald.com/cyprus_politics/arthro/un_calls_for_turkish_cypriots_to_close_beach_in_varosha-989219/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/8/greece-cyprus-to-seek-eu-action-against-turkey-over-varosha

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/10/08/greek-fm-meets-turkish-counterpart-in-bratislava-as-tensions-continue-to-rise/

https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/fatah-expel-turkey-from-nato

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/8/turkey-greece-agree-on-talks-over-eastern-mediterranean

https://www.ekathimerini.com/257789/article/ekathimerini/news/russia-says-turkish-plans-to-open-varosha-beach-unacceptable

https://www.ekathimerini.com/257749/article/ekathimerini/news/occupied-north-cyprus-to-reopen-beach-area-abandoned-since-1974-conflict

https://www.ekathimerini.com/257750/article/ekathimerini/news/biden-calls-for-pressure-on-turkey-to-stop-provocations-against-greece

https://orthodoxtimes.com/erdogan-to-merkel-europe-cannot-be-a-hostage-of-greece-and-cyprus/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/6/us-greece-call-for-peaceful-resolution-for-disputes-in-east-med

https://www.ekathimerini.com/257682/article/ekathimerini/news/pompeos-visit-prompted-by-turkeys-s-400s

https://www.startribune.com/nato-chief-hopes-greece-turkey-can-negotiate-differences/572636572/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/2/turkey-eu-threat-of-sanctions-unconstructive

https://www.ekathimerini.com/257646/article/ekathimerini/news/nato-chief-to-visit-greece-and-turkey

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54378022

https://www.dw.com/en/greece-turkey-agree-to-nato-deal-to-avoid-conflict-in-mediterranean/a-55127024

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_178523.htm

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/9/30/eu-prepares-for-standoff-over-turkish-sanctions

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/9/30/turkey-touts-past-maritime-conquests-ahead-of-talks-on-dispute

https://www.ekathimerini.com/257545/article/ekathimerini/news/merkel-suggests-greece-and-turkey-came-close-to-war

https://www.ekathimerini.com/257503/article/ekathimerini/news/pompeo-us-strongly-supports-dialogue-between-greece-and-turkey

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/28/mike-pompeo-due-in-athens-amid-spiralling-tensions-between-greece-and-turkey

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/9/27/greece-urges-turkey-to-probe-flag-vandalism-in-disputed-waters

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/9/25/lets-give-diplomacy-a-chance-greece-softens-tones-with-turkey

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/09/26/turkish-fighter-jet-severely-damaged-after-dog-fighting-with-greek-pilot/

https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/eu-affairs/us-supports-greece-despite-turkeys-calls-for-neutrality-in-east-med-tension

https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Could-An-Energy-Rivalry-Drive-Greece-And-Turkey-Into-War.html

https://news.yahoo.com/pompeo-show-support-greece-amid-215534412.html

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/09/24/turkey-spreads-fake-news-it-has-the-longest-coastline-in-the-east-mediterranean-when-greece-does/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/09/23/breakthrough-could-be-near-greece-turkey-dispute-thanks-some-strategic-diplomatic-pressure/

https://www.ekathimerini.com/257275/article/ekathimerini/news/relaunch-of-exploratory-contacts-between-greece-turkey

https://www.ekathimerini.com/257259/article/ekathimerini/news/greece-and-turkey-have-agreed-to-restart-new-round-of-talks-in-istanbul

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/09/23/turkey-announces-new-illegal-navtex-around-the-greek-island-of-lemnos/

https://www.ekathimerini.com/257177/article/ekathimerini/community/victor-davis-hanson-trump-is-greeces-best-friend

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/turkish-greek-family-mediterranean-shrug-tension-200920192111315.html

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1737261/middle-east

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/09/18/dendias-sanctions-against-turkey-have-been-drawn-up/

https://www.foxnews.com/world/turkey-greece-european-union-foreign-policy-mediterranean

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/turkey-greece-ancient-rivalry-matters-now-victor-davis-hanson

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/erdogan-meet-greek-pm-east-med-tensions-200918190724887.html

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/09/18/greece-restarts-talks-with-turkey-over-eastern-mediterranean-crisis/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/09/17/conflict-could-be-brewing-eastern-mediterranean-heres-how-stop-it/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/turkey-open-mediterranean-sea-talks-determined-erdogan-200916202140839.html

https://orthodoxtimes.com/turkish-press-we-will-besiege-the-greek-islands/

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/09/16/le-pen-backs-macrons-support-for-greece-against-turkey/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/eu-greece-turkey-crisis-talks-include-nations-200915131159907.html

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/09/15/french-analyst-it-is-impossible-for-france-not-to-intervene-in-a-conflict-between-greece-and-turkey/

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/14/europe/kastellorizo-greece-turkey-tensions-intl/index.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54142497

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/08/25/turkish-born-professor-sovereignty-of-greeces-aegean-islands-are-unquestionable/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/research-vessel-heart-east-med-row-turkey-shore-200913090324297.html

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/greece-welcomes-turkish-survey-ships-return-med-sea-72980014

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/greece-announces-robust-arms-deal-tension-turkey-rises-200912174832909.html

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/09/12/is-the-us-about-to-move-its-50-nuclear-bombs-from-turkey-to-a-greek-island/

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-a-dispute-in-the-eastern-mediterranean-has-brought-turkey-and-greece/

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/09/11/tension-in-the-eastern-mediterranean-was-provoked-by-greece-and-cyprus-says-turkish-fm/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/11/mediterranean-gas-greece-turkey-dispute-

https://www.ekathimerini.com/256826/article/ekathimerini/news/greece-refutes-reports-of-talks-with-turkey-at-nato

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/09/10/macron-turkey-is-no-longer-a-partner-in-the-mediterranean-region/

https://orthodoxtimes.com/cavusoglus-rant-about-smyrna-like-today-98-years-ago-the-whole-of-anatolia-was-saved-from-greek-cruelty/

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/09/09/military-source-turkey-should-understand-that-the-greek-armed-forces-are-not-joking/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/08/turkey-is-ready-for-sincere-talks-with-greece

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/06/the-guardian-view-on-turkish-greek-relations-dangerous-waters

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/greece-boost-military-tension-turkey-200907185033922.html

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/09/07/drones-thermal-cameras-and-armored-jeeps-fortify-the-evros-border/

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/power-hungry-turkey-may-push-eastern-mediterranean-armed-conflict-168266

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-09-07/merkel-can-calm-the-conflict-between-greece-and-turkey


https://tekdeeps.com/kurtz-turkey-violates-international-law-against-greece/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/turkey-begins-military-exercises-northern-cyprus-200906155131714.html

https://www.france24.com/en/20200906-turkey-raises-rhetoric-in-greece-standoff-ahead-of-military-drill

https://www.france24.com/en/20200906-turkey-raises-rhetoric-in-greece-standoff-ahead-of-military-drill

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/greek-turkish-politicians-reignite-clash-eastern-med-talks-200904105146813.html

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/09/04/russia-says-greek-media-claims-that-it-backs-turkey-in-the-east-mediterranean-is-fake-news/

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/09/04/turkey-is-losing-all-its-gains-in-the-middle-east-and-greece-is-benefiting/

https://orthodoxtimes.com/u-s-department-of-state-ankaras-actions-raising-tensions-destabilising-the-region/

https://www.voanews.com/europe/turkey-greece-maritime-squabble-risks-unfortunate-war

https://greece.greekreporter.com/2020/09/01/kastellorizo-is-not-far-away-from-greece-it-is-greece/

s://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-slams-greek-troop-deployment-to-meis-island-157855

https://ahvalnews.com/turkish-foreign-policy/turkey-exporting-undeclared-islamic-revolution

https://www.ekathimerini.com/256339/opinion/ekathimerini/comment/expanding-greeces-western-territorial-waters

https://www.ekathimerini.com/256440/article/ekathimerini/news/erdogan-describes-greece-as-bait-being-used-by-other-powers

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/turkey-extends-gas-exploration-eastern-mediterranean-200901061858394.html

GREECE – POLITICS

Greece Fires Another Warning at Turkey Over Seas Provocations

Εθνικός Κήρυξ

(Ibrahim Laleli/DHA via AP)2/18/2021The National Herald     

ATHENS – Talking diplomacy and belligerent at the same time, Greece and Turkey are swapping shots over rights to the Aegean and East Mediterranean, this time with Greek Alternate Foreign Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis telling Turkey to back off.

“Turkey must stop acting like an unpredictable neighbor,” Varvitsiotis told state broadcaster ERT, warning that Turkey’s often hostile behavior is undermining the country’s European Union membership hopes that Greece keeps supporting despite provocations.

He noted that the European Council, made up of the leaders of the bloc’s 27 member states, urged Turkey to refrain from “unilateral and provocative activities,” promptly ignored by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

While issuing tweets and statements allegedly supporting Greece, the EU refused to take up Prime Minister and New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ demand for sanctions over Turkish plans to drill for energy off Greek islands.

That was done, the EU said, to give failed diplomacy another chance, which immediately led to Erdogan and Turkish officials ramping up the tension and fears of a conflict starting.

The two sides met on Jan. 25 in Constantinople in a 61st round of exploratory talks, the first 60 not going anywhere, and the resumption the first time they held a discussion in four years, although it was a non-binding chat.

They are set to meet again in Athens in March when the EU will again meet and said it would consider sanctions for a third time after backing away the first time two times.

EU leaders are reluctant to take on Erdogan, fearing he will unleash on the bloc – mostly through Greece and its islands – more refugees and migrants who went to Turkey fleeing war, strife and economic hardships in their homelands.

During the hiatus, Turkey has resumed its plans to continue hunting for energy near the Greek islands of Limnos, Skyros and Alonissos until March 2 with no word whether a Turkish vessel would be accompanied by warships or tracked by the Greek Navy. 

GREECE – POLITICS

Blocking Sanctions, Dissing Greece’s Call, Germany Will Keep Arming Turkey

Αssociated Press

Heiko Maas, German Foreign Minister, gives a press conference on the informal virtual meeting on the informal virtual meeting of the foreign ministers of the member states of the Vienna nuclear agreement in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 21, 2020. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)12/23/2020 The National Herald     

Greece’s insistence that other European Union countries stop supplying weapons to Turkey was rejected by Germany, which sells submarine components and other goods that give Turkey an advantage if a conflict breaks out.

Germany Foreign Minister Heiko Mass rejected the request for an arms embargo on Turkey despite rising tensions over Turkey’s plans to hunt for oil and gas off Greek islands, which has seen warships tracking each other near Kastellorizo.

“I do not find the demand of an arms embargo against Turkey strategically correct. It is not easy to do this against a NATO partner. We saw that NATO ally Turkey easily bought missiles from Russia because it could not buy from the US,” he told the German Press Agency (dpa) as Germany holds the rotating European Union Presidency until the end of the year.

He didn’t mention that Germany has 2.774 million people of Turkish heritage and also blocked Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ demand that Turkey be sanctioned for the provocations.

Germany, while tweeting and signaling alleged support for Greece during a long-running dispute with Turkey over seas boundaries in the Aegean and East Mediterranean, has sided with Turkey concerning armaments that are lucrative to German industries.

He was referring to Turkey buying a Russian-made S-400 missile defense system that could be used against Greece and undermines the security of NATO, to which they all belong.

Maas also said he hoped Turkey and Greece would resolve their disputes through diplomatic channels which hasn’t worked yet, the EU also breaking a vow to sanction Turkey, pushing back any discussions until March, 2021.

Spain also has major economic ties with Germany and, along with Italy, also blocked any attempt at sanctions, giving Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan another triumph over the bloc that Turkey has been trying fruitlessly to join since 2005.

Opinion

The World Is Full of Challenges. Here’s How Biden Can Meet Them.

The incoming administration needs to update American policy to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

By Robert M. Gates

Mr. Gates served as secretary of defense for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama from 2006 to 2011.

  • Dec. 18, 2020
Credit…Erin Schaff/The New York Times

President-elect Joe Biden appears to be framing his foreign policy around three themes: re-engaging with America’s friends and allies, renewing our participation in international organizations and relying more heavily on nonmilitary instruments of power. Considering the challenges posed by China and other countries, as well as transnational threats that range from pandemics to climate change, these are, in my view, the correct priorities. (Though, of course, unparalleled military power must remain the backdrop for America’s relations with the world.)

In each case, however, a return to the pre-Trump status quo will be inadequate to the task. In each, it is necessary to reform, revitalize and restructure the American approach.

Our NATO allies, as well as Japan, South Korea and others, will welcome America’s reaffirmation of its security commitments and its switch to respectful dialogue after the confrontational Trump years. But the new administration ought to insist on our allies doing more on several fronts. President Trump’s pressure on them to spend more on defense was a continuation of a theme across multiple presidencies. That pressure must continue.

But it’s not just on military spending that the new administration needs to take a tough stand with allies. Germany must be held to account not just for its pathetic level of military spending, but also for trading the economic and security interests of Poland and Ukraine for the economic benefits of the Nord Stream 2 pipelinerunning from Russia to Germany.

Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system against repeated American warnings must have costs. (Recently imposed sanctions are a good start.) And Ankara must also be held to account for its actions in Libya, the eastern Mediterranean and Syria that contravene the interests of other NATO allies and complicate efforts to achieve peace. Actions by member states contrary to the interests of other allies ought not be ignored.

The United States needs to take the lead in NATO, an “alliance of democracies,” to devise consequences for member states — such as Turkey, Hungary and, increasingly, Poland — that move toward (or have fully embraced) authoritarianism. There is no provision inthe NATO Charter for removing a member state, but creative diplomacy is possible, including suspension or other punitive steps.

Mr. Biden’s embrace of the international organizations that Mr. Trump has spurned must be accompanied by an agenda for their improvement. Despite their many problems, these organizations serve useful purposes and can be effective conduits for American influence around the world.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Soviet Union had an elaborate, long-range strategy for seeding its officials throughout the United Nations and associated institutions. China seems to be pursuing a similar strategy today. When we walk away from the World Health Organization and other such organizations, we provide the Chinese with opportunities to dominate them and use them for their own purposes.

The new administration must insist on the far-reaching organizational reform of international organizations (such as the W.H.O.), using all the diplomatic and economic leverage we can muster to make effective reform actually happen. Simply showing up again is not good enough.

Closer to home, as the new administration commits to far greater reliance on nonmilitary tools like conventional diplomacy, development assistance and public diplomacy to protect America’s interests and advance our objectives, it needs to recognize that those tools overall are in serious need of investment and updating. Our national security apparatus — designed in 1947 — needs to be restructured for the 21st century.

The multidimensional competition with China and transnational challenges require the formal involvement of agencies previously not considered part of the national security apparatus and new approaches to achieving true “whole of government” American strategies and operations.

The State Department, our principal nondefense instrument of power, is in dire need of reform, as many senior active and retired foreign service officers attest. In return for meaningful structural and cultural change, the State Department should get the significant additional resources it needs.

In recent years, our international economic tools have centered mainly on punitive measures, such as sanctions and tariffs. We need to be more creative in finding positive economic inducements to persuade other countries to act — or not act — in accordance with our interests. No other country comes even close to the United States in providing humanitarian assistance after disasters, but nearly all other major assistance successes in recent years — such as George W. Bush’s President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief or the creation of the Millennium Challenge Corporation — were put in place outside the normal bureaucratic structure or processes.

While the United States cannot compete directly with China’s Belt and Road projects and development assistance, we should look for ways to leverage the power of our private sector. American corporations can partner with the United States government in countries around the world that offer both sound investment prospects and opportunities to advance American interests. The creation in 2018 of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation was a good start. President Barack Obama’s 2013 “Power Africa” initiative, which was passed unanimously by both houses of Congress and aimed to bring universal electricity access to sub-Saharan Africa, is an example of successful partnering between the private sector and the government.

Finally, America’s strategic communications — our ability to spread our message and influence governments and peoples — are pitifully inadequate and outdated.

In the early 2000s, President Hu Jintao of China committed some $7 billion to vastly expand China’s international media and influence capabilities. By way of contrast, in 1998, Congress abolished the U.S. Information Agency; subsequently, “public diplomacy” was tucked into a corner of the State Department in an organization that today doesn’t even report directly to the secretary of state.

There is no coordination of messaging across the government, and efforts to make better use of social media and other new technologies have been laggard and disjointed. Surely, the country that invented marketing, public relations and the internet can figure out how to recapture primacy in strategic communications.

Misgivings linger abroad about whether American re-engagement (and reliability) will last beyond this new administration — and about the new president’s views on the use of military power. That said, there is considerable relief among most of our allies and friends that Mr. Biden has won the election.

This provides the new president with considerable leverage to revitalize and strengthen alliances and international institutions and to show at home that doing so advances American interests around the world and the well-being of our own citizens. This would be an enduring legacy for the Biden administration.

Robert M. Gates served as secretary of defense for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama from 2006 to 2011.

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GREECE – POLITICS

Even France Turned on Greece, Mitsotakis at EU’s Turkish Walkoff

Αssociated Press

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, fourth left, speaks with Austria s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, fifth left, during a round table meeting at an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. (Olivier Hoslet, Pool via AP)12/13/2020 The National Herald     

BRUSSELS — While Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is trying to show he was satisfied with a European Union meeting that refused to back his call for sanctions against Turkey provocations, major countries in the bloc blocked penalties.

He had been trying to build an international alliance to back Greece over Turkey planning to drill for oil and gas off Greek islands as it has been doing off Cyprus, snubbing its nose at soft EU sanctions.

But while Germany, home to 2.774 million people of Turkish heritage and a major arms supplier to Turkey was expected to keep the EU from issuing sanctions, France – which had aligned itself with Greece – also did.

With Spain and Italy also siding with Turkey against EU member Greece, Mitsotakis was left with nowhere to turn when the meeting resulted only in waiting until March, 2021 to talk about sanctions.

The EU leaders in October said they would penalize Turkey this December unless Turkey stopped its plan to pick up an energy hunt again in Greek waters but didn’t, leaving Mitsotakis to say he was glad Turkey was warned.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Mitsotakis had been pictured in solidarity, smiling and shaking hands and resolving to take a hard line on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had even insulted the French leader.

When Macron walked away from him and went along with another delay – which hasn’t worked yet against an emboldened Erdogan – Mitsotakis reversed his own belief in penalties, the EU saying it would only freeze the assets of some Turkish officials it wouldn’t even name.

“Sanctions (against Turkey) are not an end in itself,” Mitsotakis said, adding, however, that the EU will respond with penalties “if Turkey insists on continuing with this provocative behavior,” which hasn’t happened yet.

“Turkey is expected to change its ways and it has been understood that Europe is moving, if at its own pace,” he said, noting that bloc is is united and “supports Greece and Cyprus, it is present,” he added.

That was also in reference to Turkish drilling off Cyprus, ignoring sanctions against two unnamed executives from Turkey’s state-run petroleum company, but Mitsotakis said Turkey got a stern warning to which Erdogan paid no attention after he said sanctions wouldn’t deter him at any rate.

Greece’s position was further compromised by the apparent reluctance of France to insist on tougher measures, while Austria, which also had talked tough before the meeting, took a milder tone, said Kathimerini.

The paper tried to explain that Mitsotakis was also hindered by other items on the agenda, such as discussions about about an EU Recovery fund, the COVID-19 pandemic and greenhouse gas emissions after he walked away empty-handed.

Macron was apparently convinced by German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s argument that the new US administration when Joe Biden becomes President on Jan. 20, 2021 will see Turkey back off its aggressions, the paper said.

Spain and Italy joined forces on this line, stressing again – after doing so agan and again to no avail – the importance of Turkey for the EU and the need to “give diplomacy another chance,” which has always failed with Erdogan.

Despite Erdogan essentially pushing the EU leaders around at will, threatening he would unleashed on the bloc through Greece and its islands more refugees and migrants who went to Turkey fleeing war, strife and economic hardships in their countries, there was no political will to confront him.

Macron was said to agree with Merkel that being hard on Erdogan would only push Turkey – which has been trying fruitlessly since 2005 to join the EU – into the camp of Russia and China, opening the door for Erdogan to do what he wants.

In the end, the EU was left to say only that instead of issuing sanctions now – Erdogan had withdrawn an energy research vessel and warships off the Greek island of Kastellorizo ahead of the meeting, which Greece said was a ruse – that Turkey might still face penalties someday.

The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who has waffled on how to handle Turkey, alternately talking tough and tender, was invited to take another shot at dealing with th dilemma and assess the possibility of “extending the scope” of sanction” at the March meeting, unless that results in pushing the problem back to another time as the EU has done repeatedly.

PRUS – POLITICS

Israel Rejects Turkey Maritime Deal That Would Isolate Cyprus

Αssociated Press

(AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)12/7/2020 Αssociated Press     

NICOSIA — In a plan that would effectively barricade Cyprus from exploring for energy in the seas, Turkey has proposed a maritime deal with Israel – which is already working with Cyprus and was said to have rejected the idea out of hand.

After years of diplomatic tension, Turkey reached out to Israel, said the national daily Hebrew paper Israel Hayom, with retired Rear Adm. Cihat Yayci, a close confidant of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, making the offer.

That would be for Israel and Turkey to share Exclusive Economic Ζοnes (EEZs) in the East Mediterranean cutting through Cypriot waters where foreign energy companies are licensed to drill, and where Turkish ships are doing so too.|

The Turkish proposal, the paper said, was to appear first Dec. 7 in the Israeli academic journal Turkeyscope—published by the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University.

Turkey in 2019 signed a maritime deal with Libya, unrecognized by any other country, dividing the seas between them and Turkey claiming waters around Greek islands, including Kastellorizo where it had an energy ship working previously.

Yayci, who designed Turkey’s Blue Homeland Doctrine claiming Greek waters and islands, wants to cut out Cyprus, which Turkey doesn’t recognize although the legitimate government of Cyprus is a member of the European Union that Turkey has been trying to join since 2005.

The EU already has soft sanctions on Turkey for its drilling off Cyprus and was due to decide in a meeting Dec. 10-11 whether to also impose penalties for Turkey’s provocations around Greek islands and in the Aegean.

The deal with Israel essentially expands Turkey’s claims to the Aegean and East Mediterranean that were part of the Libya deal and would further cut off Greece from Cyprus through the seas.

A senior Israeli official not named told the paper that while improving relations with Turkey was important that it wouldn’t come at the expense of Cyprus and that the plan was not acceptable.

“Cyprus is an ally of Israel and the maritime border between the countries is recognized by the United Nations and European Union,” the official explained.

Yayci suggested transferring four areas off Cyprus where companies are drilling to Israel, although one – Block 12 – is where the Israel company Delek is already operating, but with the US companies Shell and Noble Energy.

The gas field is estimated to contain between 7-10 billion cubic meters of gas on the Israeli side and about 100 billion cubic meters on the Cypriot side and worth some $9 billion.

The maritime border between Israel and Cyprus in the area of the Yishai-Aphrodite reservoir is still under dispute, despite all the other agreements the countries have signed. 

Also of potential benefit to Israel, based on Yayci’s proposal, is connecting Israel’s intended gas pipeline to Europe to the already existing Turkish pipeline. According to Yayci, this option would be “significantly more practicable and  Israeli agreement to the Turkish proposal would represent recognition of Turkey’s position on the EEZ near the Greek islands of Rhodes and Kastellorizo.

Turkeyscope Editor Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak said that proposal should be considered, however, to improve Israel’s relations with Turkey even though it would isolate Cyprus from the waters around the island, where Turkey has occupied the northern third since an unlawful 1974 invasion.

“For the two countries to upgrade relations to the point of real normalization, trust-building measures must be put in place, which before all else requires the return of ambassadors and consuls,” he said of Turkey and Israel.

But he said that Turkey must end its relationship with Hamas, the Palestinian nationalist group that Israel considers terrorists. “If Erdoğan does this, it’s reasonably safe to believe Jerusalem will strive to find ways to make the relationship prosper again, as has happened in the past,” he said.https://disqusservice.com/iframe/fallback/?position=top&shortname=ekirikas&position=top&anchorColor=%230000ee&colorScheme=light&sourceUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenationalherald.com%2Fcyprus_politics%2Farthro%2Fisrael_rejects_turkey_maritime_deal_that_would_isolate_cyprus-1358990%2F&typeface=serif&canonicalUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenationalherald.com%2Fcyprus_politics%2Farthro%2Fisrael_rejects_turkey_maritime_deal_that_would_isolate_cyprus-1358990%2F&disqus_version=363c4ce

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March organised by nationalists in Smyrna with slogan “This is where we threw the enemy into the sea”

Aug 31, 2020 | 20:00 in FrontPagePolitics

The leader of the Turkish nationalists and government partner of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Devlet Bahçeli, openly challenges the status of the Dodecanese islands.

Moreover, he announced that a march would take place in Smyrna and demanded the “independence” of the Dodecanese which should be released from the… Greek yoke.

The partner of the Turkish President called for a protest march in Smyrna on the 9th of September at 9.00 am demanding the review of the Dodecanese legal status. It was something that he had firstly called for last Saturday. “First and foremost, our goal is to decisively march in protest in Smyrna on the 9th of the 9th month of the year at 9 o’clock, that is, on the 9th September, 2020. In Smyrna, we threw the enemy into the sea. We demand the independence of the Dodecanese,” the Turkish nationalist said.

“Taking into account the geographical, political and other specificities of the Dodecanese, it raises hopes for peace and stability in the Aegean Sea and, therefore, the injustice against our country will be re-established if the legal status of the island is re-examined,” he added.

The Vice President, Fuat Oktay, had challenged earlier the Treaty of Paris signed in 1947, under which the Dodecanese islands were ceded from Italy to Greece.

Devlet Bahçeli deemed the Dodecanese issue as “a bleeding wound” for the Turkish nation and said: “These islands were unjustly, shamelessly and illegally taken out of our hands. The status of the Dodecanese islands must be reviewed. Greece and its tyrannical rulers aim to surround us, but they have proved the lack of property rights regarding those islands. Turkey has rights in the region of the Dodecanese. We hold memories and there are traces that do not fade,” he added.Tags:Politics

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Opinion

There’s a New Game of Thrones in the Mediterranean

It’s time to listen to Germany and take a step back.

By The Editorial Board

August 30,2020

The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom.

As if there wasn’t enough trouble around the world, two NATO allies, Greece and Turkey, have lit up a new and dangerous crisis, dragging in countries near and far. In this game of thrones, only Germany seems to have the sway to mediate a return to sanity.

At the core of the crisis, as in so many other dangerous squabbles around the globe, is energy — specifically the rich gas deposits discovered over the past decade under the eastern Mediterranean. Greece claims that its many islands in that region give it sole drilling rights in the waters around them, a stance broadly supported by international law. But Turkey, feeling hemmed in, says otherwise, and it has sent ships, accompanied by warships, to explore for gas off Cyprus.

Feuds between Greece and Turkey are hardly new. What complicates this one is that the gas reserves are also being eyed by many other countries. In principle, the vast reserves should bring those countries together to tap and share the riches off their shores. In fact, most of the countries — including Greece, Cyprus, Israel, Egypt, Italy, Jordan and even the Palestinians — have done just that.

Turkey, however, has found itself excluded, in part because of Greece’s territorial claims, and in part because Turkey’s authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has antagonized many of his allies and friends with his aggressive behavior in Syria, Libya and at home. Further complicating matters is that Turkey is a member of NATO but not of the European Union; Cyprus is a member of the European Union but not NATO; and Greece is a member of both, creating overlapping and conflicting loyalties. Then there’s the fact that Cyprus is divided into a Greek south and a Turkish north, although nobody except Turkey recognizes the Turkish part as a separate state.

An attempt by Germany to untie this Gordian knot foundered when Greece announced an energy deal with Egypt that effectively claimed rights to a broad area of the sea, which it did in response to a similar accord between Turkey and Libya. Turkey soon started exploring again, its operations monitored by a Greek naval frigate.

On Aug. 12, the Greek warship managed to collide with a Turkish warship, and things quickly heated up. France, already furious at Turkey over its support of the faction in Libya that France doesn’t support, briefly sent in a couple of fighter jets and warships, and it’s currently holding military exercises with Greece, Cyprus and Italy to deter further exploration by Turkey. Greece announced a demonstrative extension of its territorial waters off its western coast to 12 miles, in effect warning Turkey that it could do the same in the Aegean Sea on its eastern side, a move Turkey would not tolerate.

What is peculiar in this crisis is that competition for fossil fuels should have given way by now to competition over how to stop using them, especially among countries that have subscribed to the Paris climate agreement. Besides, with the slowdown in the global economy from the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting drop in energy prices, Europe has plenty of gas.

It also seems bizarre for Mediterranean and European countries to be plunged into extraneous tensions when there are so many serious crises to keep them busy, including the economy, the pandemic, the political suspense in the United States, the street clashes in Belarus and Russia’s threat to intervene in Belarus.

In an earlier era, the United States would have stepped in to separate feuding NATO partners, as it did when Greece and Turkey almost went to war in 1996. President Trump did make a call to Mr. Erdogan urging him to negotiate, but that had no effect — the United States under the Trump administration is not regarded as a viable go-between, especially with Mr. Trump in campaign mode. Britain, too, has retreated from European affairs now that it is out of the European Union. The union also lacks leverage over Turkey, since it has become evident that Turkey under Mr. Erdogan, despite its status as a candidate for membership, has no chance of joining the union.

So Germany, which currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the European Council, the policy-setting assembly of E.U. heads of government, has taken the lead in trying to get Turkey and Greece to the negotiating table, with Heiko Maas, the German foreign minister, shuttling between Ankara and Athens. The mediation is not entirely altruistic — a cornered Turkey could unleash another flood of Syrian refugees into Europe, most of them seeking to reach Germany. But with nearly three million Turks living in Germany, Mr. Erdogan has at least some assurance that his side of the argument will be heard.

That is important. Though international law is largely on the side of Greece in the maritime dispute, there is room for negotiation, and Turkey’s explorations in disputed waters have not yet crossed a legal red line. On Friday, E.U. foreign ministers met in Berlin and effectively endorsed Germany’s role, putting off any discussion of sanctions against Turkey until E.U. heads of state meet in late September.

War is in nobody’s interest, and a conflict between NATO members ought to be unthinkable. But when tensions reach the level they have in the eastern Mediterranean, as Mr. Maas has said, “Even the smallest spark can lead to a catastrophe.” Germany has called on all sides to immediately halt provocative military exercises, a step that should be followed by a moratorium on exploration in disputed waters. Then let diplomacy take over.

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