Dr Mehmood-ul-Hassan Khan
ENERGY power politics is creating serious feuds in Eastern Mediterranean Sea (EMS) where, several countries are now at eye-ball to eye-ball situation. Competition over gas discoveries in the EMS has now provoked various bitter regional rivalries, especially between Greece and Turkey. Among them, Turkey pursues energy exploration drills according to its international right whereas, alliance of convenience “Greece, Egypt and Israel exploit the EMS’s deep waters and shores to grab more and more energy resources for their economic diversification and political clouts. The European Union (EU) especially France and Germany support Greece because of personal displeasure and egocentric taboos against Turkey and its President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Rafael war jets have been dispatched to Greece to counter thundering resolve of Turkey in the EMS. Unfortunately some Muslim countries also extended their military cooperation to Greece against rightful Turkish endeavour. Tit for tat and war of words is polluting the sands and shores of EMS and entire region is inching towards further chaos, uncertainty and instability.
Most recently, Foreign Minister of Turkey Mevlut Cavusoglu emphasized to find a win-win formula instead of constant disputes because collective future is indissolubly tangled. It still prefers diplomacy and dialogue over escalation aiming to achieve a sustainable resolution of the pending issues pertaining to drilling rights, exploration boundaries and equitable sharing of the gas & oil reservoirs in the EMS. Furthermore, Turkey advocates “obsession of periphery” should not compromise the “caravans” of prosperity, productivity and progression because international order demands “equitable” world to live in. It still follows foreign policy of “neutrality”, “non-interference” and last but not the least, peace at home and peace in the world to contribute its positive, productive, participatory and purposeful engagements in the region and beyond. Being a peace loving country and “staunch” supporter of regional peace and harmony, Turkey respects NATO’s initiative towards de-confliction and Germany’s initiative for de-escalation, hoping revival of the already established bilateral mechanisms between Turkey and Greece which is indeed, not any sign of weakness rather, Turkish inbuilt ability of superior conflict resolution to achieve peaceful co-existence.
Most recently, Foreign Minister of Turkey of Mevlut Cavusoglu elaborated his country principled stance of the EMS by stressing the need to have fair and equitable delimitation of maritime boundaries, protection of continental shelf/drilling rights, protection of Turkish Cypriots’ equal rights over the off-shore resources of the island by sharing equitable revenues, creation of a genuine, inclusive, fair and equitable off-shore energy cooperation mechanisms/apparatus and last but not least meaningful inclusion of all the main stakeholders participation of all parties. Despite big claims of the EU, Turkey has every right to expedite its efforts to explore more and deeper waters of the EMS in search of energy resources for further diversification of its macro-economy and matching the increasing energy needs of its increasing population. Contrary to ill-devised maritime policy of the EU mere justifying its self-defined rights on EMS by bluntly ignoring Turkish longest interconnected coastline in the region from the riches of its own neighbourhood are not realistic either.
Nevertheless, to offer any befitting response, Turkey has started joint military exercise with Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Moreover, its vibrant naval presence in the EMS is the sign of deterrence not destruction which is custodian of its ongoing seismic research activities within its own continental shelf which even supports by international law. Unfortunately, Turkey and Greece have a long unresolved dispute over their maritime boundaries. The Turkish coastline is situated near Greek islands that Athens believes empower Greece with territorial rights. Turkey claims that islands should only have limited exclusive economic zones (EEZs) which is based or derived from the previous international rulings that confined the influence and utility of islands in determining maritime boundaries. Energy power politics has already polluted sands, waters and shores of the EMS. It has forced the regional countries to form alliances to gain more and more gas & oil resources. The EastMed Gas Forum, “the OPEC of Mediterranean gas” was formally established in Cairo on 16 January 2020. It consists of Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan Greece, Cyprus and Italy, aiming at establishing the region as a major energy hub. Turkey has already described it unrealistic formation. Rise to socio-economic, geopolitical and geostrategic vested interests have already tangled vastness of EMS where proxies have been instigated. A series of civil wars have morphed into proxies among main regional stakeholders in the region and international movers & shakers. Libya, Syria, Yemen and TRNC would be in the limelight in the days to come.
On its part, NATO tries to reduce the risk of a military clash between its two members, Greece and Turkey. The US has also called for a diplomatic solution to the crisis which has been largely absent from efforts to prevent military confrontation between Greece and Turkey. Most of the EU member states prefer diplomatic channels for dialogue and de-escalation with Turkey which is an important economic partner in terms of migration and regional security. In this context during last two months Germany initiated a mediation attempt between Athens and Ankara that stalled when Greece signed a new maritime deal with Egypt, angering Turkey. But Greece and Southern Cyprus have been pushing hard for the EU to take a tougher stance towards Turkey, including further sanctions. France has now become “spoiler” to regional reconciliation process because of its own disputes with Turkey, particularly over Libya. Emmanuel Macron, France’s President unjustified assertiveness in term of military presence in the region with two fighter jets and a pair of warships has derailed prospects of peace into deep waters of EMS which has further worsened due to diplomatically indecent and personally provoking French tagging towards President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Being prominent regional expert of Turkey, I uphold immediate de-escalation, respect of basic principle of international law on maritime affairs/rights, dialogue and diplomacy instead of provocations and martial gesturing/signalling. Explorations of energy resources should not be any exploitation expedition. Search of untapped treasures of maritime should not be the cause of any military misadventure. Only direct bilateral negotiations and belief in peaceful co-existence may save humanity at large to sink in the deep waters of Mediterranean Sea (MS). Turkey’s peaceful persuasions based on international law must be respected for achieving greater peace and harmony in the region and beyond. Gas is not the reason for the dispute but the pretext. War on this basis is futile. Dialogue holds the key of greater regional security and shunning of deadly proxies because human prosperity is sacred and in its peaceful resolve Turkey is scared from anybody.
—The writer is Director, Geopolitics/Economics Member Board of Experts, CGSS.
