Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been repeatedly "slapped" in the last 24 hours by Europe and Europe alike, as well as the USA and Egypt which he attempted - without success as it turned out - to re-approach in the previous days.
It is no coincidence that the Turkish president has returned in recent days to war cries against Greece, going so far as to issue threats against Athens for a missile strike.
The court's decision to sentence Ekrem Imamoglu is essentially charged to the Turkish president and comes as part of his attempt to politically annihilate his opponents ahead of presidential elections expected by June 2023.
Imamoglu did not sit idly by, mobilizing thousands of supporters and reminding Erdogan that he will not get off easy.
Strong reaction from the US
The court's first-instance verdict on Imamoglu provoked a strong reaction from the US.
"This unjust sentence is inconsistent with respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law," said State Department spokesman Vedad Patel in the shadow
"We remain particularly concerned about the continued indictment of civil society, media, political and business leaders in Turkey, as well as their prolonged detention," the State Department added.
US-Turkey relations
In addition, US-Turkey relations have recently remained tense as Ankara expects the issue of the sale of F-16 fighter jets to move forward, with no success so far.
At the same time, there have been strong reactions from Washington to Erdogan's intentions to go ahead with a ground operation in Syria and it seems that this is one of the reasons why he has put the brakes on for the time being.
Yesterday, however, Turkey asked for Russia's support on this issue. "We asked for [RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN'S] support to make mutual decisions and perhaps act together here" in northern Syria, Erdogan told reporters in Ankara, adding that Turkey would not seek anyone's permission.
Slap from Egypt over the Turcolibian memorandum
The fronts that Erdogan has opened both at home and abroad are many and he is likely to face them in the run-up to the elections.
The Turkish president seems to have invested politically in the illegal Turkish-Colombian memorandum while recently attempting to reach out to Egypt.
The warm handshake with his Egyptian counterpart al-Sisi a few days ago was highly publicized in the Ankara media, but the enthusiasm did not last long.
Yesterday, the Egyptian president's intervention in the shadow of the Turkish-Turkish memorandum delimiting the western boundaries of the country's EEZ with Libya, a move that torpedoes the Ankara-Tripoli agreement, was another slap in the face to Erdogan.
And it is no coincidence that Egypt's announcement on the EEZ demarcation comes a day after Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he would "defend the Turkish-Libyan memorandum", with analysts saying it was a clear message to Ankara.
Borel's letter to Dendias
The "slap in the face" from Egypt was not enough, there was also a letter from EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Josep Borel to Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, in which he explicitly condemns, once again, the illegal "Turkish-Libyan Memorandum".
According to diplomatic sources, Z. In his letter to the Greek Foreign Minister, Mr. Borel condemns in the strongest possible terms the "Memorandum of Understanding" between Turkey and the Libyan Transitional Government.
Among other things, Mr. Borel assures Mr. Dendias of the European Union's solidarity with all its Member States and of its continued support in this matter.
"Fire" also from Europe
Meanwhile, in its latest statement, the EU General Affairs Council called on Turkey to stop its threats and provocative actions against its neighbours, Greece and Cyprus, a statement that provoked an angry reaction from Ankara.
Specifically, the Turkish Foreign Ministry launched a strong attack in the shadow of the EU General Affairs Council resolution.
"Unity in the resolutions on our country adopted by the European Union (EU.The Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Source.gr
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