E A S T E R N M E D

The Cypriot Factor in the Region The Cyprus question and the ongoing occupation of the northern portion8 has been treated as a peripheral issue, a one-time only provocation by a, supposedly, dissatisfied and downtrodden Turkey9 instead of putting formally on the table the danger10 of passing to silence when not implicitly condoning11 gunboat diplomacy and patent violation of the sovereign right12. [...] When it comes to the East Med, Turkey has adopted a different approach by disavowing the implicit recognition of the validity of UNCLOS, thus confirming the dubious claims over the respective Greek and Cypriot EEZ and exposing the expansionist objectives in the Central and East Med that can be narratively explained through the lenses of Pan-Turkism. [...] The Blue Homeland The Western Powers relied on the established sovereignty33 and demilitarisation34 of the Aegean islands based on Turkish neutrality and goodwill, thus the need to prevent the Soviet Union from stepping into35 the issue and become a security provider to Greece and Turkey both.36 The ICJ (International Court of Justice) also avoided adjudicating the issue which gave Turkey the chan. [...] The partners should demand Italy to think in the long-term90 instead of the short-term91 which would send Turkey the message that encroaching upon the NATO-EU member‘s maritime space, along with Cypriot rights and sovereignty in the East Med, is a negligible issue in the hope of being allowed to have a piece of the Libyan cake,92 in the East Med93 and in the case of Cyprus specifically94 without a. [...] In the face of the Turkish refusal to end the occupation of Northern Cyprus, the gunboat diplomacy and the spacial violations, along with the systematic infringement into Cypriot sovereignty and rights, the EU, NATO and the US should keep supporting Greece by empowering its capabilities150 and help it become an alternative energy hub151 to Turkey’s one152 in order to disenfranchise.