Because Italy, France, Greece and Cyprus will conduct military exercises in the eastern Mediterranean Sea
The Eunomia military exercise involves Greece, Cyprus, France and Italy: the context in the eastern Mediterranean, the reaction of Turkey, the role of France and the position of Italy. Facts and analysis
From yesterday until August 28, Italy, France, Greece and Cyprus will conduct military exercises in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
A QUICK SUMMARY
The area has been affected for some time by strong tensions for the control and exploitation of the gas reserves contained therein . On the one hand, there is Turkey with its territorial claims. On the other hand, there are above all Greece and Cyprus – the two countries directly involved in the disputes with Ankara – plus a whole series of states that have an interest in curbing Turkish claims. Like France and (less strongly) Italy, in fact.
WHY EUNOMIA
The air and sea exercise that will engage Athens, Nicosia, Paris and Rome until Friday is called "Eunomia" and will take place in the waters south of Cyprus.
The name of the tutorial is significant. In ancient Greek mythology, Eunomia was a deity who personified lawfulness and good governance. In today's Greece, however, Kyriakos Mitsotakis' executive often resorts to the concept of legality when condemning Turkey's moves in the eastern Mediterranean.
For example, commenting on the signing of the recent agreement with Egypt on exclusive economic zones , Mitsotakis said that the agreement "restored legality in the region" after the "illegal" memorandum between Turkey and Libya on maritime borders.
In the words of the Greek Ministry of Defense, the Eunomia exercise "aims to demonstrate the commitment to the legality of the four Mediterranean countries as part of the policy of easing tensions".
WHAT IS GOING ON
The Eunomia initiative comes about ten days after the clash between a Greek and a Turkish warship in the eastern Mediterranean: Greece called it an accident, while for Turkey it was a provocation .
The fact is also relevant because it took place in a sea area claimed by both Athens and Ankara. The Turkish ship was also there to escort another vessel, the Oruc Reis, designed for oil exploration. In other words, Oruc Reis was looking for oil and gas fields for possible future drilling.
Greece and Cyprus accused Turkey of violating their own exclusive economic zones; Ankara instead claims that the ship is inside the Turkish continental shelf.
Last Tuesday – wrote the Cypriot newspaper Cyprus Mail – Oruc Reis was in the waters between Cyprus and the Greek island of Crete.
WHAT ERDOGAN SAID
Turkey shows no intention of giving up its energy and maritime ambitions. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that "Turkey will take what is rightfully its own in the Mediterranean, the Aegean and the Black Sea " and that "it will not compromise on what belongs to it. We are determined to do whatever is necessary in political, economic and military terms ”.
In short, Erdogan responded with harsh words to the attempt at diplomatic mediation carried out by Germany, which is trying to lower the tension between Greece and Turkey.
WHAT GREECE DOES
Greece also says it is in favor of dialogue, but only when Ankara suspends oil exploration.
Meanwhile, Athens is pursuing a hard line. Prime Minister Mitsotakis said yesterday that he plans to expand Greek territorial waters in the Ionian Sea from 6 to 12 nautical miles.
The expansion in the Ionian has nothing to do with the area affected by tensions with Turkey. But Athens is still a message to Ankara, as Mitsotakis said the country reserves the right to do the same in other maritime areas in the future. Greece refers to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which Turkey has not ratified.
IT'S ITALY?
While France is quite decisively opposed to Turkey's moves – Paris has an interest in maintaining and increasing its influence in the Mediterranean (think of Libya and Lebanon) -, Italy's position is not clear.
As the analyst Cinzia Bianco noted, one day later Italy participated in the Mediterranean Shield operation together with Turkey, and then took part in the Eunomia exercise with Greece, Cyprus and France.
In short, Italy refuses to feed the polarization in the eastern Mediterranean, even if – underlines Bianco – participation in the Greek military exercise carries a much greater weight.
(Extract from an article published on Energia Oltre )
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/mediterraneo-orientale-esercitazione-eunomia-cosa-succede-turchia/ on Thu, 27 Aug 2020 13:10:51 +0000.