The Turkish Navy has issued a notice to mariners to inform them that the ship Fasting Reis will conduct seismic surveys south of Kastellorizo (the island where the Oscar-winning film was shot Mediterranean) for two weeks.
The problem is that these surveys will be carried out in Greek territorial waters.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said that Greece will not accept blackmail and will defend its sovereignty, defining the action of Ankara a new, serious escalation, destabilizing and dangerous for the peace in the area.
The seismic surveys are just a cover, Ankara is looking for natural gas fields and to find them does not hesitate to violate the territorial waters of others.
Athens has been monitoring all movements from Turkey for some time. Three weeks ago, in collaboration with Cyprus, the Greek Navy conducted a series of naval exercises which, according to Ankara, violated Turkish sovereignty.
Greek warships are positioning themselves around the area Turkey intends to breach, while army units are on alert. The Athens government has already raised (I would say unnecessarily) the issue with the EU, NATO and the UN.
While the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, stressed that Greece is following developments with confidence and absolute readiness, noting that imposing European sanctions against Turkey is the only way (a blunt weapon given that Ankara blackmails the EU with migrants).
Once again the silence of our diplomacy appears deafening, now prone to the wishes of Ankara. Due to its geographical position, Italy should have a prominent role in any question concerning countries bordering the Mediterranean. Instead we have relegated ourselves to a position of absolute irrelevance, trusting in international organizations or in other nations that do everything except our interests.
An act of foreign policy would be to support Greece by sending us naval units to the affected area. But in addition to political decision-making, ships are also missing, and those we have are almost unarmed, as the Navy is seen more as an appendage of the Coast Guard rather than a armed force.
Photo: Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri / Hellenic Navy
