United Arab Emirates and Greece join forces against Turkey
Scope and objectives of the agreement on foreign and defense policy cooperation between Greece and the United Arab Emirates. The point of Giuseppe Gagliano
The agreement on joint foreign and defense policy cooperation between Greece and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was signed during the official visit of the Greek Prime Minister to the United Arab Emirates on 18 November 2020. The agreement enshrines the determination of both countries to strengthen their strategic partnership in the defense context with the aim of promoting cooperation and jointly addressing common challenges and threats.
It is in this context that the agreement contains a mutual defense clause or a mutual military assistance clause which is equivalent to a common defense doctrine since it provides that in the event that one of the countries is threatened or attacked, both undertake to contribute to the defense of those who are activated to guarantee their sovereignty and territorial independence.
For the implementation of the agreement, a regular consultation mechanism has been established at the level of foreign ministers, while a Supreme Joint Committee between Greece and the United Arab Emirates will be established at a later date.
The agreement also provides for the presence of the military forces of one country in the territory of the other and the exchange of classified intelligence information. Among other things, this provision regulates and legitimizes the military forces of Greece, a member state of NATO and the EU, and of the United Arab Emirates, a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council in the territory of the other.
A further agreement to train UAE technicians in the Greek aviation industry will soon be finalized. The Avlona Armor Training Center will host Emirati technicians, given its proximity to the technical base of the Greek aviation industry in an area of approximately 90 acres within which all necessary infrastructure and facilities will be built.
What is the geopolitical significance of this extremely important agreement?
It is quite evident that this agreement was concluded with the aim of countering the projection of Turkish power both in the Arab Gulf and in Syria, in Libya and above all in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Indeed, as repeatedly stressed on these pages , Turkish neo-Ottomanism implies the repair of Ankara's influence in the areas of the former Ottoman Empire in order to transform Turkey into a hegemonic power in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Balkans. It is no coincidence that there are numerous Turkish provocations that have been put in place: (a) the establishment of the Aegean army in the 1970s with an offensive posture, (b) the invasion and occupation of part of Cyprus, (c) Turkey's repeated violations of Greece's territorial waters and airspace which are estimated to be around 7,000 for 2019 alone, and (d) the casus belli proclaimed by the Turkish parliament in the event that Greece extends its territorial waters up to 12 nautical miles.
This partnership agreement should come as no surprise for some very simple reasons.
Firstly at the height of the Greek-Turkish crisis in August 2020, when the seismic ship Oruc Reis conducted surveys in sea areas that partly fall within the Greek continental shelf, the UAE relocated four F-16s to the Greek island. of Crete, where they remained stationed for two weeks and participated in joint air exercises with the Hellenic Air Force.
Secondly, the UAE already participates in the 3 + 1 formula consisting of Egypt, Cyprus and Greece alongside France and regularly discusses regional crises that threaten peace and stability, including developments in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Thirdly, and this is a strictly military aspect, the Emirati armed forces are one of the most modern in the region, technologically equipped with state-of-the-art weapon systems.
The United Arab Emirates Air Force has 68 French Mirage 2000 fighter jets and 78F-16 American fighter jets; its Navy has 11 corvettes and the Abu Dhabi government is the first in the world to acquire Lockheed Martin's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-aircraft system. The system is designed to shoot down short, medium and medium range ballistic missiles in their terminal phase by intercepting them with a hit-to-kill approach. In total, 100,000 people serve in the UAE Army, Navy and Air Force.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/emirati-arabi-uniti-e-grecia-si-alleano-contro-la-turchia/ on Wed, 02 Dec 2020 10:49:17 +0000.