Five ways Greece is seeking to provoke Türkiye

Pressures are formerly again high between Türkiye and Greece, which have been bogged in a tit- for- tat debate over a host of issues for times.

The last thing they demanded was for the United States to take a policy step that can make matters worse.

In a recent decision, Washington lifted an arms proscription on the Greek Cypriot administration. Ankara, which is patron for the security of hundreds of thousands of civilians who live on the Turkish- speaking side of the divided islet, has condemned the development.

President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Ersin Tatar said in a statement that the move would lead to an escalation in the region and consolidate pressures between Ankara and Athens.

While the two countries are NATO abettors , pressures have burned in recent months due to what Ankara says are Athens ’ “ instigative ” acts against its neighbour.

Also Read: Greece’s S-300 air defence system ‘harassed’ Turkish F-16s

Then are crucial areas of pressure between Türkiye and Greece.

1. Violation of Türkiye’s airspace and territorial waters Greece violated Türkiye’s airspace and territorial waters,123 times in the first eight months of 2022, a trend that has continued from the former time, according to Turkish National Defence Ministry sources. In August, Turkish spurts flying over the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean swell were “ radar locked ” by a Greek S- 300 air defence system on the islet of Crete in late August, just one out of 14 separate incidents between August 15 and September 4 this time. Ankara has constantly brought the matter before NATO. Turkish officers have refused to accept the explanation offered by Athens for putting its spurts in the way of peril.
2. Giving retreat to terrorist organisations Police in Istanbul lately captured a terror suspect trained in Greece. Türkiye’s Defence Minister Hulusi Akar, earlier in June, spoke about how members of the PKK terrorist organisation and FETO are active in Laurium city near Athens. The Lavrion( Laurium) exile camp has turned into a reclamation centre and base for PKK terrorists, according to reports and footage attained from the area. In its further than 35- time terror crusade against Türkiye, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organisation by Türkiye, the US, and the EU — has been responsible for the deaths of over,000 people, including women an children. How seriously Ankara takes the trouble of PKK is commodity Turkish leaders have raised on transnational forums multiple times. The Fetullah Terrorist Organisation( FETO) and its US- grounded leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated achievement of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people dead and,734 injured. READ further How Turkey is fairly entitled to explore gas in Eastern Mediterranean.
3. Denying Türkiye’s right to look for oil painting and gas Türkiye transferred its fourth drill boat, Abdulhamid Han, for hydrocarbon disquisition in the eastern Mediterranean in August as part of its larger gas disquisition strategy, which started in 2018. Greece and the EU have indicted Ankara of ‘ illegal ’ drilling off the seacoast of Cyprus in 2019, a claim that Türkiye dismissed. The crux of the argument lies in the disagreement over the divided islet. The two countries have differing claims over the eastern Mediterranean as well. Greece argues that its islets in the Aegean ocean can induce their own Exclusive Economic Zones( EEZ) which would allow Athens to explore 200 navigational long hauls of ocean water. But Türkiye argues that islets can’t induce their own EEZs and that Greece’s EEZ starts from the landmass, rather than from the sprawl of hundreds small islets. Türkiye has the largest bank among all the countries located on the hem of eastern Mediterranean. Yet, its sweats to search for coastal petroleum reserves draws flak from European leaders. READ further Turkey- Greece pressures eastern Mediterranean claims in charts
4. The continued militarisation of islets Island Türkiye has time and again raised concern over Athens ’ continued militarisation of the eastern Aegean islets. There are over a dozen Greek islets near Türkiye, numerous of which are so near, they can be seen from the seacoast by naked eye. Ankara has stated that the sovereignty over the islets would be questionable should Athens maintain its violations. The islets of Samothraki, Lemnos, Lesvos, Samos, Chios, Psara, and Ikaria are supposed to be demilitarised but Greece violates collective agreements by planting armies and divisions, as well as cannons and rifles.
5. Undermining Turkish Muslim nonage in Western Thrace The recently tagged Muslim clergyperson( mufti) of the Turkish nonage in the Xanthi region of Western Thrace in Greece lately underscored the continued discriminative practices against the Turkish nonage in the region. Stating that the end of the Greek authorities is to place Christians in nonage foundations and religious institutions, Mustafa Trampa explained that” the rearmost law states that Christians or people from different persuasions can also be employed in Muslim mufti services and foundations’ boards of trustees.” Ankara has long reprobated Greek violations of the rights of its Muslims and the 150,000-strong Turkish nonage, from closing kirks and shutting seminaries to not letting Muslim Turks handpick their religious leaders. The measures violate the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne as well as ECHR verdicts, making Greece a state that flouts the law, say Turkish officers. In August, a deputy speaker of Greece’s congress supported “ the necessity of observing on ” the country’s Turkish Muslim deputies, original media reported. On Friday, Türkiye called on authorities in Greece to probe a death trouble against a Greek legislator who’s also a member of the country’s Muslim Turkish nonage.