Erdogan to make statements on ‘sovereignty’ of Greek islands at NATO summit

At the NATO summit starting today, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will raise the issue of the “militarization” of the Greek islands in the Aegean and their “illegal occupation by Greece,” Erdogan-affiliated media reported after a leak from presidential aides.

Under the headline “President Erdogan is going to the NATO summit: there are 6 folders in his bag,” the newspaper Yeni Safak reported that among the issues that the head of the country will put on the agenda of the NATO summit is the “illegal occupation of the Aegean Islands by Greece” and their “militarization.”

Listing “6 titles” or most likely “themes”, Yeni Safak said that Erdogan will raise the following questions at the NATO summit:

1. Sweden and Finland are calling for NATO membership: the Turkish president will present evidence that the two countries “support terrorism.”
2. Corridor for Ukrainian grain.
3. War in Ukraine. The Turkish President will hold meetings with NATO members on this issue.
4. Illegal militarization of the Aegean islands and illegal occupation by Greece .
5. military operation in Syria.
6. Economy, energy crisis.

Erdogan’s proposed NATO agenda was made public days after Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Fuat Oktay openly threatened Greece military intervention. He said that Athens must back down on the issue of the militarization of the islands, otherwise there will be consequences like the catastrophe in Asia Minor (1922), as well as the recent catastrophe, like in Cyprus. [где Турция оккупировала северную часть острова в 1974 г. с тех пор заявляя о юрисдикции.]:

Oktay insisted that “if the demilitarization of the islands in the Aegean will not carried out soon, we will challenge the sovereignty of the islands in accordance with international law and agreements.” Just last Saturday, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu stated that “Turkey cannot be contained within“.

#Turkey cannot be contained within its borders.
If this doesn’t ring a bell, it should definitely sound an alarm.pic.twitter.com/Zy42vzBlWG

— George Mastropavlos (@g_mastropavlos) June 25, 2022

In recent weeks, Turkey has stepped up its aggressive rhetoric against Greeceand her threats to “challenge Greek sovereignty over the islands” in the eastern Aegean seem to stand on Ankara’s agenda, something like ” now or never“.

What will Turkey achieve if it puts forward its claims at the NATO summit? Technically, nothing, and the alliance, which includes both Turkey and Greece, cannot make any decisions on this issue.

At the political level, some of Greece’s partners in EU they can shake their finger at Turkey and say ayay, how bad it is. But Greek diplomats and high-ranking officials will have to work hard in advance to win such support.

What can Turkey do next? Raise the issue at the UN? In both cases, Turkey will have to thoroughly prove its claims, and this can never be achieved on the basis of the Lausanne (1923) and Paris (1948) treaties.

Many Greek observers and political analysts note that such impudent and unceremonious behavior of Erdogan became possible after Greece actually severed relations with Russia and formally went to war with the Russian Federation, after the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine. Now Turkey has no deterrent in the form of Russia, and Erdogan is not afraid of France and the United States. And in the event of a military conflict, France, according to the interlocutor of our editorial office, will “deflate”, and the United States, not wanting to lose such a profitable ally as Turkey, will simply “merge” Greece.

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