The message that no development can take place in the wider Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean region without Turkey's participation is what Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to convey to the US and NATO, internationalist Zenonas Tziarras told the Cyprus News Agency.
Commenting on the Turkish President's recent statements on Greek-Turkish relations and the Aegean Sea issues, Mr. Zionist Zionist said. Tziarras said that "the war in Ukraine has created a vacuum, which allows Erdogan to reassert his claims in the Aegean and the wider region and even more forcefully, which of course serves the domestic front given that we are in an election period and he is traditionally criticized by the opposition for not being tough enough on the Aegean and other issues."
"We have to see this escalation also in the context of the strengthened Greece-US relations, which Turkey feels threatened in terms of the greater strategic weight given by the Western alliance to Greece, which Turkey is losing, and in this context Turkey feels that there may be implications in supporting its positions on the issues that concern and interest it in the Aegean and beyond. Therefore, it is trying to put the issues back on the table and send a message to its Western partners, NATO and the US, that no development can take place on any issue without its participation and that the enhanced US presence in Greece should not and cannot take away Turkey's role and importance," he added.
Asked about the future of bilateral relations between Turkey and Greece following Erdogan's statements on the suspension of talks with the Greek side, Mr. Tziarras said that this break is a signal to NATO that if it continues to support Greece and strengthen those diplomatic relations that Turkey considers to be to its own detriment, there is no room for a diplomatic settlement of the issues and things are heading towards further tension. Therefore, he said, the burden and responsibility of the developments is shifted to the Americans and NATO to back away from this approach towards Greece.
"This situation serves him anyway, as at home the nationalist rhetoric towards Greece and the Aegean issues works positively for him and even attracts the support of the opposition", he added on this issue.
Finally, asked if the tension in the Greek-Turkish relations could be "exported" to Cyprus as well, Mr. Tziarras replied that regardless of the latest developments in the Greek-Turkish and Ukrainian issues, it should be taken for granted that Turkey's strategy in Cyprus has two dimensions.
"One is the dimension of strengthening and upgrading the pseudo-state (economic, political, legal) which also includes the dynamic of de facto annexation, because as Turkey deepens the dependence of the occupied territories on itself we are moving more towards a situation where the occupied territories are essentially annexed in functional terms to Turkey," he said, to add that the second dimension is related to Turkey's illegal activity in the free areas, mainly the fact that new drilling is expected with the fourth drilling rig purchased by Turkey in the EEZ of the Republic of Cyprus, but also the further opening of the Varosha area.
"These are accomplishments which Turkey will proceed regardless of other developments in order to influence the Cyprus negotiation process, but also the wider regional security architecture", he stressed.
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