Mediterranean tension is Ankara’s crisis-of-the-month
The current tension in the Mediterranean is
Ankara’s “crisis-of-the-month,’’ a
strategy employed by the Turkish government to distract from the country’s
economic crisis and provide content to pro-government media, Middle East
analyst Seth J. Frantzman said in the Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
Turkey’s track record shows that it usually conducts
military campaigns against those who are unable to shoot back, halting when it
reaches a red line, Frantzman wrote, but “It’s unclear where that red line may
be in the Mediterranean. Ankara is trying to find out.’’
Tensions are soaring in the eastern Mediterranean
after Turkey on Monday issued a navigational communication, Navtex, stating the
seismic research vessel Oruç Reis would be conducting surveying activities
south of the Greek island of Kastellorizo. Turkey also began on Monday two days
of naval exercises southeast of Kastellorizo and Rhodes island.
Turkey’s latest research mission is one “with a lot
of military muscle behind it,’’ the analyst wrote, while highlighting Greece’s
frustration with NATO’s “hands-off approach.”
Athens is preparing to call for an emergency meeting
of the European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council over the matter, Greek
newspaper Kathimerini reported on Tuesday.
“The current crisis at sea looks to be a lot of
posturing that will give Ankara’s pro-government press and state media
something to write about,’’ Frantzman said.
The lack of check on Ankara’s militarist decisions
allows for Turkey to conduct weekly military drills or “appear to be
challenging Greece, Egypt, Iraq, the PKK, EU, NATO, Syria, the US and basically
everyone,’’ he wrote. This, in turn, makes the Turkish government seem
important.
Ankara uses Syrian rebels to fight for it in the
war-torn Libya and Syria, and only conducts military campaigns against those
who cannot retaliate, such as Kurds in
northern Iraq, Frantzman wrote.
But when faced with an Egyptian red line in Libya or
Russia in Syria, Turkey generally stops, he added.