About ten days ago, exactly on 18/11/2020, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsokatis went to Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, where he met Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. This meeting led to the signing of an important defense agreement between the two countries (in an anti-Turkish key).
Both nations are strategic rivals of Turkey in various theaters: in the Eastern Mediterranean, as regards energy exploration carried out by Ankara and which Athens deems illegal, and in Libya where the Turks support the government of Fayez al-Sarraj, while the Emirates support General Khalifa Haftar.
It can be said that the agreement signed by the two countries is the continuation of a military collaboration already begun in the past months. Just think, when in late August, perhaps in the period of
greater tension between Greece and Turkey, the United Arab Emirates deployed four F-16 fighter aircraft "in its Souta air base, on the island
of Crete "1, to participate in joint military exercises with Athens in the Eastern Mediterranean.
It should be noted that, on 11 November in Athens, there was the visit of the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Egypt which, like Greece and the Emirates, clashes with Ankara on several fronts (from the Libyan scenario to that of the Eastern Mediterranean). In fact, on August 6 of this year the Greek and Egyptian governments entered into an agreement for the demarcation of maritime borders, "giving each other rights of energy exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean"2. A pact that the Turkish Republic did not like at all since it considered it, only, as a provocation towards it.
1https://sicurezzainternazionale.luiss.it/2020/08/24/esercitazione-milita...
2 ttps: //sicurezzainternazionale.luiss.it/2020/11/11/mediterraneo-orientale-grecia-ed-egitto-chiedono-supporto-biden/
Photo: Twitter
