Map showing Turkey’s extended maritime claims as of September 2019
In an ongoing war of nerves between Turkey and Greece, bilateral relations have again plummeted between the two NATO members and supposed allies.
Greek Defence Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos recently emphasized his country’s “readiness for military conflict with Turkey.”
In the latest in a long line of incidents between the two countries, last week a Greek navy ship attempted to inspect a cargo vessel off the Libyan coast but a Turkish military escort refused access. Turkey has also increased flights by its fighter jets into Greek airspace in recent times.
In another major factor affecting relations between the two countries, Greece has protested against Turkish drilling plans in 24 locations in the Mediterranean Sea that it considers Greek territory.
In a statement, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias warned that Athens would retaliate if Ankara begins drilling in the areas claimed by Greece. At the Delphi Economic Forum on June 11, Greek Deputy National Security Adviser Thanos Dokos pushed for greater regional cooperation in the eastern Mediterranean.
A controversial maritime deal concluded between Turkey and Libya’s ‘Government of National Accord’ last November has also caused alarm. It permits Ankara to explore the Mediterranean seabed, including several Greek islands.
However, experts do not expect immediate military confrontation between the two countries. Paul Antonopoulos, an expert on Turkish-Greek relations, says the situation will remain a war of words.
“Since Greece won its independence from the Ottoman Empire, there have been four major wars between the Greeks and Turks, with Greece always being the one to first declare the war. Athens has already said it does not want war but will only respond to Turkish-initiated aggression,” he told Arab News. He added: “It is unlikely that (President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan will declare war, especially as Turkey is militarily over-extended in Syria and Libya and is facing an economic crisis.
Athens has also suggested that the International Court of Justice at The Hague be used to resolve the maritime issue, but Ankara does not recognize its authority. It is through international law that Greece and Turkey can resolve the maritime issue, however Ankara does not recognize any of the internationally recognized means to do so.” LINK
The two deals signed by Turkey and the ‘Government of National Accord’ in Libya last November on maritime boundaries and military cooperation also angered Turkey’s other regional neighbours.
The pro-government Turkish outlet Daily Sabah said the country’s maritime borders with its “neighbour” now extend from Turkey’s southwest coast to the Derna-Tobruk coast of Libya.
Turkey is not a signatory to the 1982 United Nations convention regulating maritime boundaries and does not recognize the southern Republic of Cyprus and its agreements for an exclusive economic zone clash with the territorial claims of Greece, Egypt, Lebanon and Israel.
Turkey says it is operating in waters on its own continental shelf, or areas where the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus has rights.
Greece and Turkey have long argued claims to oil and gas reserves off the disputed island of Cyprus. The conflict has intensified in recent times, with Turkish drilling operations drawing accusations of “bullying” from Cyprus and EU sanctions.
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So amazing that Europe and the EU do not back Greece over Turkey.
Hard to fathom that kind of blindness. They will certainly “get it” when Erdogan strikes them from the east and from the south.
this is how I predict that it will happen … the fall of Italy in the nets of the turks is not accidental, Italy playing the role of “Achilles’ heel” in the future military aggression of islamist turkey against Europe …
PS…
however, when the time comes, the turds will have the blessing of the United States, Great Britain, Germany and Russia …diplomatically, my opinion is that the bastards already have this blessing … only after these countries (ie US, UK, Germany and Russia) will realize that this blessing given to some primitives will be catastrophic for them and that it will not guarantee their security against the new islamist plague, they will raise war against the new ottoman (caliphate) empire…
There is no aggression needed for the Islamisation of Europe, just remember the ‘Eurabia’ story from Gisèle Littman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurabia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_Ye%27or
…only modifcation is that it is happening under Dönmeh Erdogan leadership, therefore the islamisation of Europe is happening with the help of IsraAid or the Erik Prince/CIA company MOAS, which shipped muslim migrants to Europe, and the free medical service for ISIS fighters in Israel. It’s happening under their leadership and is therefore in NWO/Israels interest…
https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-why-are-israelis-so-apathetic-to-the-eu-refugee-crisis-1.5402352 http://www.newropeans-magazine.org/en/2016/11/10/the-americans-from-moas-ferry-migrants-to-europe/
The are some advantages. With civil sharia, trifle cases can be settled in 1 mth, instead of now 5 years of $250/lawyer hour in the European court systems.
Yeap less jail time – more amputations…
:)))… morbid humor
Talking about CIVIL sharia. Diference!
Then I can also go to my Rabbi for a divorce. Makes no sence to undermine real ‘Civil’ communal secular institutions and to go back to religious institutions, just because they are ‘speedier’ and cost less. The hitman on the streetcorner is even faster than sharia – also, there where I live, cheaper…
I agree with what you are saying, I haven’t lived in the woods until now…The idea behind the ottoman military invasion v 2.0 is that the turks want to own the islamisation of Europe, to control it, to take all the credits, to take advantage of it, etc, etc…
Italy is being blackmailed with the hordes of Africans looting ,destroying etc that come from Libyan coastline to its islands and mainland. The problem has stopped when Salvini was minister, now that he is overthrown by his rivals, immigration plays a great role in the survival of the government. If things heat up ,Salvinis’ party will gain huge support from the South mainly in the elections which may lead in ,even, forming his own government without needing support of other parties. For the socialists in Italy this is a nightmare.
The UNHCR evaluated countless refugee cases from oppressed countries and has now listed US as a major offender. The oppression Black Americans face in the US would qualify as persecution. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bc5d0ac6723d8cc89e66eebb74ebfae0a9e07160f4d49ab3888f89659da4ef22.jpg
The Italians are all innocents. Spaghetti Bolognesa Trutti Frutti.
Italy is weak as piss and always was. Constant backstabbers. They will fold again once they have another bridge bombed ie like Genova.
Why the Italian commodore told The Greek frigate to stand off I will never know . Actually I do ,project irini was planned to fail from the start by the fat secretly gay /pedophiles in Brussels ,that is what .
Who puts an Italian as head of a fleet anyway? Greece is the traditional seapower . Maybe the Greeks quailed and wanted to play second fiddle to the italians so they would not have to take responsibility for sinking the Turks.
What I do know is Greece fucked up by not sinking the Turkish fleet in 1996. Europe would have been better off now with no rapefugees at all and Turks with a shut -mouth. Even Yankees would have been happy.That idiot Clinton really fucked things up in 1996;curse his alcoholic eyes.
Getting back to Italy -they had Libya -with France- and lost it to the Anglo Americans ;the idiots!!! Lol so they deposed Gaddafi to get squat. That idiot evil Sarkozy and Italian Pm at the time should be tarred and feathered and kicked in the ass through the town squares.
The US/NATO will always choose Turkey over Greece, Greece serves no benefit to them expect being a card they can play against Erdogan, Greece (even if it’s a NATO member) has done the wrong thing by angering the Russians instead of being somewhat neutral where they could leverage both sides in US-Russia.
It will always be Israel first then Turkey and that’s about it .
As I have said repeatedly, the Turkeys are worst mongrel pimps in the Muslim world, Egyptians are the bottom feeding complete untrustworthy diseased cunts of the Arab world and the Zionist parasitic arseholes don’t require any further eloquent elaboration.
It seems that these two, Egypt and Turkey, are about to engage in a decades-long confrontation, with actual trroops getting killed by the other side. Greece will not get overtly involved in this.
Europe will choose Greece, and Turkey is not a match for Europe
Dear God I hope your right.
Not sure, the EC cunts take orders from Americunts and will follow that. The Turkeys are a much larger and more important cannon fodder. Even though I like Greeks, I don’t think they matter as much in terms of Americunt warmongering plans.
83 million Turkish Takfiris. No match for Europe???
If the industrial might of Europe, turns against Turkey they have nothing to do. Only economically they are 60% dependent on EU, put this away plus free military equipment and advisory to Greece. And that’s not even my final form.
Highly doubt they can do anything when US force them to choose turkey, even more when EU is it’s worst shape and so divided, but i can only hope you’re right
Erdogan is Dönmeh, therefore part of the USraHell complex – nothing amazing about that…
Well the Turkeys are not the only cunts crawling up Americunt and Zionist parasites arse. The Egyptians are also historical mega cunts and have just blocked two Russian IL-76 from bringing in supplies to the LNA after Sisi received a phone call from his master, the orange fat moron Trump. It is time Putin stick with ancient honorable nations like China, Iran, Syria and Greece. Russia made the biggest mistake of coddling to the goat fucker Erdogan and also putting his faith in the Zionist faggot Sisi and selling the bankrupt Egyptian fuckwits modern weapons. Egyptians are historical backstabbing cunts dating back to the Roman whore Cleopatra who was fucked by all and sundry. Sadat and Mobarek are recent examples of Egyptian pimps.
Egyptian Air Force intercepts 2 Russian military aircraft en route to Libya: report
It makes no sense though since Egypt and Russia are on the same side in Libya, does Russia have to go into Egyptian airspace to get to Libya? something here doesn’t make sense, but i agree Sisi is an Idiot usurper who has no clue on how to lead a country or international politics , it downhill when Sadat came to power
Yes, the flight plan is makes a dip near Alexandria and Sisi Barrani to get to central Libya where the LNA is based. I have flown that route. The cunt Sisi got a phone call from Trump as not to cooperate with Russia.
The reasons for ‘denial of passage’ will certainly be interesting to hear. Russia just approved the sale of high value radar to Egypt, this better be good.
As you know I was quite perplexed at Putin’s logic of arming the biggest cunts in the region Egypt and Turkey with the most modern Russian weapons. It is beyond bizarre considering Russian/USSR bad history with both. They need to put some adults like Shoigu incharge of Russian strategic policy.
Ya, the Iranians have style. Not many are in that group..
Actually he is a traitorous islamified Greek and ironically his great grandfather was one of the biggest Turk- haters. The poor man was force islamified in the last great forced islamification of the 1800s. Probably around 1890s.
P.s Egypt’s current royal family is descended from a French voluntary convert to Islam.
because eu is actually who is causing this to be happening unless you failing to see who is backing turkey in all what she does.
Yes you are right, it is the EU/NATO that is backing the Muslim Brotherhood. I see it and you see it, how can Europeans not see it.
It must be like in north America, were the governments are working covertly against their own people.
well………I am a european, but can not speak for the rest of them.
You are as european as a micronesian statue. You are an Asian. Cyprus is in Asia.
first I am not Cypriot and no Cyprus is not in Asia.
R U an American? That should explain what you said.
You just lied and said you are not Cypriot. It is typical for a Cypriot to say at least 10 little lies between sunrise and sudown. Yes, you are a greek-speaking ape!
I born in Mani idiot and no I am not cyrpiot. As for the ape remark………… ask your mom if she has complains.
Then why do you have a Republic-of-Cyprus passport?
I thought you were only unable to speak in greek. But I see your english-language skills are just as awful, you poor greek-speaking Cypriot.
Erdogun will only strike his head against a wall as long as HAF can achieve air superiority over the Aegian sea and south / south east of Crete island. TAF will operate far away from their bases and will have to deal with a very capable and well operated AA network. If they set off to drill for gas in the maritime region west of 28°, we shall drill the lake Van with the Kerds in the future.
Seriously now if the Twerks decide to try something, they will most likely do it closer to their coasts, perhaps somewhere between Cyprus and the small island complex of ” kastelorizo ” . They usually take no great military risks but instead ” strike ” countries in turmoil ravaged by civil wars and unrest ( Cyprus, Iraq, Syria Libya ) . When it comes to Greece they resort to their usual brinkmanshift and d1ck waving.
Turkey doesn’t recognized international maritime law. Now who is the aggressor? This two countries are both NATO members. The US and EU should stop Turkey’s ambition in expanding his territory across the Mediterranean and beyond. Erdogan is a new Hitler nowadays.
Turkey is doing the US thing. Full Spectrum Hybrid War against everybody.
Turkey is doing the US thing. Full Spectrum Hybrid War against everybody.
Turkey has some case. These Islands dont look natural Greek on a map.
Almost all of those islands were under Ottoman rule for a few centuries and before that, they either belonged to various local states or were independent, for a long time.
Some of the islands were taken by the British/French/Italians/etc. by war, most important ones (Cyprus, Crete) were taken by backstabbing and breach of treaties (negating on those treaties is the official reason for creation of the Northern Cyprus by Turkey). They gave the islands so close to Turkish coast to a country at war with them (atm) to create troubles for all eternity. If the islands became independent, there would not be so much trouble, but even in case like Cyprus, they planned to join Greece and we all know the rest.
PS.Dear Greek friends, please spare me and your own time by not giving a lecture on the history of antiquity of this part of the world. I am well aware of it. Thank you.
Hey mongol this islands were always Greek from thousands of years ago before any Turk existed in this region, if you know history as you claim, you shouldn’t make those stupid remarks. What do you mean various local states bob, there were all Greek city-states, their population was Greek entirely and later within the 1000 year old Byzantine empire(basically a Hellenic empire by all means but name) this islands were still enterily occupied by Hellenes including Cyprus. There is nothing in this region that belongs to you, its funny how the barbarian from the steppes telling us what is Greek and what its not Greek lol.
Ask politely this time and I’ll give you the answers. Welp, I even settle for “not rude”.
I don’t give a damn thing if you answer me or not, I speak the truth and there isn’t any historian and reasonable person in the world to claim otherwise, only brainwashed mongol Turks who have little to no history do it and that bothers you of course because in your short history you only have genocides to show off to the rest of world.
Is there something I’m not getting? Is Garga a Turk ?
To be honest I dont know what he is but he behaves like a Turk.
He is supposedly a Persian so I don’t know why he now loves Turks so much ; unless he thinks in Pan -Islamist terms . If this is the case he is deluded, Europe and Greece would much more treat with Iran than Turkey and he better remember that . If Iran favours Turkey over the EU I an assure you any favour shown to Iran from moderates like me evaporates into thin air.
If a Turk then ,fcuk him . It is like talking to the wall.
What nonsense is this, Garga? I have not been on-site for some time yet did read your comments with relish in the past. I thought you were Persian but now you sound like a Turkicising Pakistani.
How can someone learned like you come out with such baseless commentary?
Welcome back Brother.
Haha! Where did the Pakistani guy come from? I understand the subject is sensitive for some Greek and some Turks. These 2 nations are still at war long after their official wars has finished and there is no relation like Iran-Iraq after the war is not in horizon for them. These islands, islets and rocks play a major role in the conflict. The tension created by their placement is a big contributor to prevent normalization of relations. I am neither Turk nor Greek and I look from outside, and I see the problem. As long as Greece has an island 1.5km away from Turkish coast, there will be air space violations and it’s inevitable.
One more thing I see in Greek [ultra] nationalists and they have it in common their Iranian counterparts: Everything for them starts at 25 centuries ago and just jumps to now, any event in between is blurred or non existent, no attention to how many times we (and you) were beaten, bloody and lost land and population.
They say because it was ours 2000 years ago, it should be ours now. Where else did you hear that? If we go by this mentality , less than 10 countries would remain in the world: Asia is divided between Iran and China and the other China with some land in the south to India. Whole of Europe is Italy and in Americas red-skins will be free to kill each other with no white man on site. But this is not how things worked so far.
I stand by my assessment. Ottomans took Cyprus and Crete by blood and a few centuries later Brits took them from Ottomans by treachery. Most of other islands Europeans took by war from Ottomans who took them by far in the first place. Besides, I think it’s weird that your island is located inside waters of another country 2 km away from its land and 300 km from yours. It’s troublesome.
We live in a world that might makes right, sadly. The US is a [for now] living proof of that.
PS. I liked the part about Pakistani. Where did it come from?
By virtue of autochthony. Greeks have been living in Eurasia (Greece and Asia Minor ) for time immemorial. We are The Aryans who moved to Europe whereas the Persians moved to Iran. No one has a better claim to their lands than the Chinese ,Persians , Indians , Greeks and Aborigines of Australia. We have been there unmoved from day one. In a ience since the refugia oftgeICE Ages.
Islands of Turkeys coast! So what? That is a border. Turkey should not even be there anyway . It is occupied Anatolia or Asia Minor.
As a Persian you have not had to live with Much if any of your land occupied by others. No, Azerbaijan and the Anglo- occupation of Iran of a few decades does not count.
Pakistan? Many Pakistanis (Sunni ) have favourable ties and view to about Turkey. A mistake indeed.
Good to see you too.
What sort of argument is “close to turkish coast” supposed to mean? First of all by definition every greek island is at exactly 0 distance from greek coast. But if “closeness to turkish coast” is the problem, it could be remedied by moving Turkey’s border slightly (or not so slightly) to the east so that they have no coast to complain about, like they used to have no coast back in central asia.
“They say because it was ours 2000 years ago, it should be ours now.”
expept that no one really says that other than turkey. Greece says its theirs now because its theirs now. Their navy fought to liberate those islands in the first balkan war and as everyone should expect they’re not gonna hand over any piece of land, much less one that’s inhabited by Greeks, without a war.
Well by definition, every country that has islands possesses something strange too, named “mainland”. This type of argument says when you have numerous islands hundreds of kilometers away from your mainland and inside another country’s mainland’s territorial waters, there going to be air space violation so either stop complaining about them or punch the violator so hard that they stop. Either way, more whining! I don’t say they should give up their islets, I wouldn’t lose a single rock. I say they should shut up about airspace violations or do something about it once and for all. Turkey is pushing them every each way and all they do is nag.
I guess you never heard a Greek in your life talking about Istanbul/Constantinople or any other city in Turkey on the Agean coast, the whole 2000 years ago thing.
PS. I know Turkey is not popular here, heck, it’s not popular anywhere, to hell with their Neo-Ottomanism, Pan-Turanism, Pan-Turkism and wolf-myth. But no country in the Balkans (or in fact anywhere under their oppressive rule) could gain their independence if Russia, Britain, France and others did not liberate them, Greece is no exception here, Apparently they were very comfortable under Ottoman rule until others did the job for them. If they could, they would centuries ago, way before Russia liberated Bulgaria and Britain, Italy and France do the same for the Greece and islands.
every country that has islands possesses something strange too, named “mainland”
Besides that arguably being an artificial distinction, no it’s not a necessary feature considering there’s countries which are only made of “Island(s)” with no “mainland” or even Malaysia a very large part of which is “continent” but its still hard to say which part of it is supposed to be the “mainland”, you also don’t seem to understand how “territorial waters” work. The only thing I could agree with you is that Greece should perhaps do less whining and certainly more punching. They missed some good opportunities to punch Turkey in the past, but I hope it still isn’t too late, though the balance of power has shifted significantly in Turkey’s favor.
PS. I’ve edited my previous comment. Also you are totally wrong about Greece being “comfortable” under the Ottomans. Your knowledge of the subject seems rather superficial.
Yeah, there are other “un-naturals”, Egypt and Russia come to mind. I have no problem that, but each to their own. How the country is situated aside, Turkey is certainly un-natural in a lot of ways, one of which is their populations demography. Only a very small part of their population are really Turks, genetically speaking. Even their language isn’t Turkish, linguistically and let’s not start about their script and writing.
Are we playing word games? Even island countries like Australia have a mainland. Greece certainly does. But there are exceptions, we are not talking about Nauru or Saint-something-or-other here)
Yes, they (and others) were not so uncomfortable. If they were they’d do something about it. Ottomans attacked us quite frequently and (Salim I and his son Suleyman each attacked us 7 times, others did too) sometimes managed to take some parts (even an important city like Tabriz, normally when there was a new king and Iran in turmoil because of that, like Tahmasb which took the throne when he was just a boy and immediately faced with an Ottoman invasion), but our ancestors always kicked their butts out and all instances of butt kicking came with heavy prices.
PS. Thank you for letting me know. I feel too lazy to re-read previous comment right now and what you edited. My take is, if that was important to this conversation you’d put it in a new one.
the history of those lands did not begin with the arrival of some migrant or invading peoples … they were already inhabited by a population with a very advanced culture from times when those migrating or invading populations were not even aware of their miserable existence or condition.
True. But those migrants were savagely strong enough to subdue the original inhabitant. They tried the same thing with us too, they didn’t succeed but we lost some lands to them eventually (between today’s border and the Van lake) and our culture if not the oldest, is one of the oldest in the world, which did not stop the invaders mind you.
The same thing (savage, unwashed, barbaric) is being said about Mongols, but those kicked every single body’s butt in their path. You were lucky if they didn’t pay a visit to you. In the beginning they were far worse than the Turks.
the turks are the same with their ancesters, the mongols, which were led by the bloody motherfucker Genghis Khan, ethnological and genetically speaking…the only difference is that later those Mongol tribes were islamised…and, yes, my country faced in the past with both Mongol invaders, the islamised and their non-islamised ancestors…hopefully the Van Lake region, in fact the whole eastern Anatolia region, will go back within your country borders as it should be…
Bad luck it is then!
It seems no matter how we treat Armenians as our own (we are one), to some it’s still not enough. Thank god Armenians themselves don’t think like that, mostly.
until 1453 (less than 600 years ago!) not only the islands but also the entire territory of today’s Turkey was inhabited ONLY by Thracians, Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians, etc … no trace of Mongols or Arabs .. .even long after, the lands of the former Byzantine Empire occupied by the Turko-Mongols continued to be inhabited by compact populations of Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians, etc. but which were subjected to a systematic process of ethnic cleansing until present times.
What do you mean dont look natural Greek, there are all Greek as there were for thousands of years, learn some history uneducated bob, I bet murican you are, typical then for lacking the necessary knowledge for other parts of the world.
Until 1922 millions of greek-speakers lived, across from those islands, on the turkish coast. You are Iranian and you do not know much of the history of that place.
What does that mean? Stupidest thing I have ever heard here.
Turkey has no case here…
until 1453 (less than 600 years ago!) not only the islands but also the entire territory of today’s Turkey was inhabited ONLY by Thracians, Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians, etc … no trace of Mongols or Arabs .. .even long after, the lands of the former Byzantine Empire occupied by the Turko-Mongols continued to be inhabited by compact populations of Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians, etc. but which were subjected to a systematic process of ethnic cleansing.
Paul Antonopoulos, an expert on Turkish-Greek relations, says the situation will remain a war of words. “Since Greece won its independence from the Ottoman Empire, there have been four major wars between the Greeks and Turks, with Greece always being the one to first declare the war. Athens has already said it does not want war but will only respond to Turkish-initiated aggression,” he told Arab News. He added: “It is unlikely that (President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan will declare war, especially as Turkey is militarily over-extended in Syria and Libya and is facing an economic crisis.
Unless Paul hadn’t noticed, the war within Syria is more or less a frozen conflict now, the Turkish military involvement within Libya is directly linked to resource development in the central Med. So no I don’t think it will remain a war of words, when so much political investment is at stake for Turkey and Turkish energy independence.
I also understand that the Turks are wishing to use Misrata as a naval base for their operations.
Turkey in talks to use two Libya military bases: source https://www.reuters.com/article/us-libya-security-turkey-idUSKBN23M1R0
Small correction on your last paragraph mentioning some
“disputed island of Cyprus”
… Cyprus is not a disputed island but an independent and sovereign country recognized by everyone as such despite Turkey’s ceaseless efforts at “disputing”. The same cannot be said for the so called TRNC which is little more than a turkish military base and not recognized by anyone other than Turkey which has over 40,000 troops permanently stationed there since their invasion.