Ladies and Gentlemen,
In the millenary history of our region, where the Mediterranean has been at the center of our -old- world, more and more actors have emerged, over the centuries, aiming to project their sea power.
A country or empire controlling the seas was in a position to exercise its power over the entire region.
Circumstances have changed since.
The International Law, by creating a legal framework and consistent rules, has immensely contributed in bringing legal clarity concerning the rights and responsibilities of nations on the Sea, and thus harmony and peace.
In the Eastern Mediterranean, Greece, despite an 8-year-long economic crisis, despite the global and regional political challenges, has shown unexpected resilience.
It has always been a trustworthy, reliable ally and partner in the South Eastern edge of the North Atlantic security system.
A pillar of stability in the region.
Greece has managed to find ways of fruitfully cooperating with all but one of its neighbors, in the Balkans, in southern Europe and the Mediterranean.
Turkey on its side, on this same geographic area, is constructing its own doctrine -without foundations in terms of international law- to fit its narrative of “justice” and “equity”.
It draws maps, constructs theories to advertise alleged “rights” and justify its endlessly provocative behavior.
In this “lone rider” doctrine, Turkey supposedly derives its rights from the assumption that it “has the longest coastline” and that islands are not entitled to maritime zones other than territorial waters.
Turkey has a rather peculiar, unilateral and convenient for its goals interpretation of international law-
According to this unfounded theory, only continental coasts matter or have rights.
Islands are ignored, their sovereign rights to Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) are disregarded or violated.
And this, regardless of the island’s size, be it small, such as Castellorizo, or big, as for instance, Crete.
Greece is threatened with war (casus belli), if it decides to exercise its inalienable, according to the UN Convention of the Law of the Seas, right to extend its territorial waters farther than 6 n. m.
One would wonder if Turkey would support the same preposterous theory for islands such as Sicily, Corsica, or even the UK!
Turkey is basing its narrative on the revisionist “Blue Homeland” doctrine, disregarding the very nature of the geographic reality of the region.
This is an aberration.
It is a nationalistic expansionist theory that has worrying analogies to the “vital space” projections that, as History has proven, were devastating for Europe, for humanity, for the entire World.
Unfortunately, it has become an official theory of Ankara, promoted as a “sovereign right”, supported with power politics and the clear threat of the use of force.
Apparently, revisionism, as a strategy of re-interpretation of historical facts and as a systematic questioning of established treaties and rules, combined with persistent attempts to create faits accomplis, is back.
Neo-ottomanism has been on the agenda of the Turkish President for several years already.
It is fueling passions at home over a glorious past and grandeur -considered as abruptly-unfairly curtailed at the time by foreign powers.
It is cultivating a sense of injustice made to Turkey at Lausanne in 1923 and the need to “correct” it.
Thus, it has conducted to the emergence from the Turkish side of new claims, questioning current borders and maritime zones over unfounded rights.
A narrative of conquest has emerged and repeatedly manifested, during Erdogan’s tenure.
See, for instance the official celebrations for the conquest of Constantinople/Istanbul, by the Ottomans, almost six centuries ago (!).
Or the prayers (orchestrated as a spectacle) during the recent conversion of Hagia Sophia –a monument inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage list- from a museum to a mosque, by a decision of Erdogan himself.
This revisionism aims to question and to undermine the established order and the conventional legal framework as laid in the Treaty of Lausanne.
Turkey’s
• illegal and provocative activities in Cyprus,
• illegal, unilateral interventions in internal affairs of Arab countries like Iraq, Syria and Libya,
• provocative behavior in the Eastern Mediterranean and, lately,
• active involvement in the conflict in South Caucasus,
demonstrate in the most conspicuous manner, its will to re-draw, re-define and, in its words, “rectify the injustice” supposedly done in Lausanne.
Turkey’s activities in the broader region, as part of its neo-ottoman vision, to reverse the Lausanne Treaty status quo, jeopardize peace and stability in the entire South-Eastern Mediterranean.
They pose a threat to regional security, as they could serve as a stepping stone for the resurgence of extremists and fundamentalists.
This is an issue of serious concern for all of us;
an issue which the international community as a whole and in particular countries of the region, should jointly face.
Within a few months Ankara has become a “travel agency” for jihadists in three regional crises (Syria, Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh).
Besides, Ankara has chosen to ignore its own Alliance’s best interests in the region;
it risks causing irreparable damage to its south-eastern flank, putting even at risk the cohesion of NATO, taking advantage of the void left in the region by the relative decrease of US presence over these last years.
Not to mention Ankara’s controversial political affiliations with Moscow.
A self-proclaimed protector of faith and Muslims, Turkey has demonstrated time and again its total inability –or rather, unwillingness- to unite the Islamic World behind its profoundly divisive rhetoric.
On the contrary, Ankara’s reckless and aggressive statements are exacerbating divisions among religious confessions and even within the Islamic World.
Ironically, from the highly advertised Davutoglu doctrine (“Strategic Depth”) of “zero problems with neighbours”, Turkey has slided to a point of “zero neighbours without problems” because of Turkish aggressiveness.
By its practices, Ankara is doing its best to corroborate those who consider that it has become a systemic threat for the West.
Despite facing hybrid threats, such as the weaponization of migration flows, as well as the geopolitical challenges described above, Greece remains calm and composed.
Greece is always committed to international law and to the principles enshrined in the UN Charter, while promoting dialogue and good neighbourly relations.
At the same time, Greece remains ready to defend its sovereignty and sovereign rights under any circumstances.
We seek to promote peace, stability, development and prosperity for all peoples in our wider neighborhood.
We do so bilaterally but also through a nexus of trilateral, with the participation of Cyprus, and multilateral schemes of cooperation in the Balkan area, the Caucasus, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East.
We strive to promote a positive agenda, one that would advance cooperation, development and prosperity for all, making full use of the many gifts our neighborhood offers in plenty.
We try to build where others try to destroy or reshape things to fit their own ill ambitions.
Ladies and gentlemen,
we are indeed at crossroads.
Global challenges such as pandemics and climate change need international attention, cooperation and global answers, more than ever.
Revisionism coming back to haunt our continent, is an old foe.
We have history on our side and lessons learned through cruel experiences.
In respecting our principles, promoting our values – freedom, justice, democracy, rule of law – we have created an area of peace and stability in our continent.
Let us brush aside dangerous practices of the past and build through these guiding principles, a peaceful neighborhood and a safer world.
November 5, 2020