SQUARING UP OVER GAS
THE ongoing dispute over undersea gas supplies around Cyprus notched up a level this week as Egypt announced an alliance with four other interested parties to “confront” Turkey.
The group is formed of Egypt, Greece, the Greek Cypriots, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and France.
In a joint statement issued after a “virtual” meeting of foreign ministers, the five-party alliance said it will focus on confronting moves in the territorial waters in Cyprus, where Turkey has been carrying out what they described as “illegal” excavations.
The statement attacked Turkey’s agreement with Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) headed by Fayez al-Sarraj, which sets out a new maritime “border” in the Med.
The Turkish Petroleum Corporation has submitted a request to the GNA for permission to start exploration in the eastern side of the Mediterranean.
The alliance’s joint statement concluded that it will continue to hold regular consultations, which according to pundits is further confirmation of the alliance endeavors to keep Turkey at bay.
Turkey’s foreign ministry responded that “Ankara was successful in disrupting the sabotage schemes of these countries in the region and their efforts to support ‘putschists.’”
GOALS
Tariq Fahmy, a professor of political science at Cairo University, told AlMonitor: “The five-party alliance succeeded in achieving its first goal, that is to raise Turkey’s concerns, which was evident in the Turkish foreign ministry’s statement that attacked each of the countries party to the alliance.”
He said, “France’s participation in the alliance is of paramount importance, since it is seen as an EU power, which could contribute to imposing expected sanctions on Turkey in order to protect Cyprus from Turkish violations.
“France will play an important role in the alliance because it is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and thus can veto any decision in favour of Turkish moves in Libya.”
Fahmy noted that France gives further impetus to the new alliance, as it is part of the EU naval mission, dubbed Irini, launched in April to enforce an arms embargo on Libya.
“The continuous Turkish violations in Libya and the Mediterranean will probably cause the alliance to become militarized and form a joint military force to protect the interests of the involved countries and to step up security, strategic and information coordination against Turkey,” Fahmy said.
Hassan al-Hassi, a Libyan political analyst, told Al-Monitor, “The coming period will witness the formation of new coalitions such as the five-party alliance over the declared Turkish military intervention in supporting the GNA and threatening the interests of the concerned countries.”
The European Union has condemned the drilling and exploration operations of the Turkish drill ship Yavuz that has been drilling off Cyprus since April.
On May 3, Greece condemned two Turkish aircraft flying over Greek islands, stating that the Turkish jets buzzed a Greek chopper transporting the minister of defence and army commander who were traveling over a small island in the Aegean Sea.