Egyptian President al-Sisi (C) chats with Greek Prime Minister Tsipras (L) and Greek Cypriot leader Anastasiades in Nicosia
While the leaders of regional actors Greece, Egypt and Greek Cyprus, which have been at odds with Turkey, met in nicosia last week for a trilateral meeting to boost security, energy and economic relations, Turkey is increasingly isolating itself by adding the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) to the list of regional actors it has offended.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi traveled to Greek Cyprus to meet with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades last Wednesday. El-Sisi had previously hosted Anastasiades and former Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras last November in Cairo, declaring new energy cooperation in the region between the three parties.
Analysts closely following Turkey agree that Ankara’s faulty foreign policy in the region helps the formation of such new friendships and contributes to Turkey’s further isolation. Former Turkish foreign minister and architect of its regional policies Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s “zero problems with neighbors” concept has long been a source of mockery in international circles as “zero neighbors,” with Turkey increasing its problematic relations in the region by the day.
During his visit to Greek Cyprus, Tsipras said that Greece would launch consultations with Egypt and Greek Cyprus to establish maritime boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean. Visiting Nicosia’s southern area, Tsipras said the maritime boundaries would be defined in areas where the consent of third countries was not required.
Maritime zones claimed by countries for commercial research, known as economic exploitation zones (EEZ), are normally governed by the United Nations’ Law of the Sea or bilateral agreements between neighboring states that usually settle on an equidistant boundary. Ankara, which is not a signatory to that convention, questions the jurisdiction of Cyprus’s internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government in exploring for oil and gas.
Greek Cyprus has rebuffed Turkish claims and defined its economic zone in 2004. Since then it has delineated its maritime boundaries with Egypt and Israel, where vast amounts of natural gas have been discovered in the past two years.
Turkey and Greece have been at loggerheads for decades over land, air, sea and seabed borders in parts of the Aegean Sea.
After talks with el-Sisi and Anastasiades, Tsipras said, “We agreed on further consultations for defining our sea zones wherever that is deemed necessary, and obviously where it does not require an understanding and cooperation with third countries.”
The three parties have also agreed to step up cooperation on combatting terrorism amid fears over worsening security conditions in the region, including Libya. El-Sisi, Tsipras and Anastasiades agreed to boost defense and security ties and to discuss relevant information to counter terrorist threats. They expressed “grave concern” over a growing terrorist threat in Libya that may destabilize neighboring countries, adding that they support putting in place a counterterrorism strategy that would run in tandem with the ongoing political process.
Source: Zaman