Escalation in the Eastern Mediterranean

The authoritarian, nationalist and religious drift naturally leads to imperialism and external adventurism in the Mediterranean, inspired by Beijing's pursuit of the annexation of the South China Sea. They are part of the project to reconstitute the Ottoman Empire and take leadership of the Arab-Muslim world with the support of the Muslim Brotherhood. 

France is on the front line against Turkey, as evidenced by the targeting of the frigate Courbet by the Turkish Navy on June 10. Ankara's support for a good number of jihadist groups of Sunni leanings, from Syria to Libya, constitutes an obstacle to the fight against Islamist terrorism. The two countries are also opposed in Libya over the Kurds who played a decisive role in the military defeat of the Islamic state.Above all, France can only support Greece in the face of violations of its sovereignty, because of the solidarity between European partners, because of Turkey's open violation of international law, and because of the strategic stake that Mediterranean gas represents in reducing Europe's energy dependence on Vladimir Putin's Russia.

What are the objectives of the military exercise carried out between 26-28 August by Cyprus, Greece, France and Italy as part of the Quadripartite Cooperation Initiative (QUAD)? To what extent can Europe take up the security issues at its Mediterranean borders?

Turkey, like China and Russia, is using the Covid-19 pandemic to accelerate the deployment of a policy of power in disregard for international law and freedom of navigation in the Mediterranean. At the same time, it is testing the unity and willingness of European democracies to defend their values and sovereignty. And it will continue to do so until it reaches its limits. It is therefore very important, without overdoing it, to show the solidarity of European countries with Greece, especially tof Mediterranean powers, and to show, while there is still time, the capacity to oppose the strikes of Turkish democratorship. This is the whole purpose of the naval exercise organized between Greece, Cyprus, France and Italy as part of the QUAD initiative in the south and southwest of Cyprus.

Can this crisis be resolved within NATO, to which the main stakeholders belong, or is it further proof of the weakening of the transatlantic organization?

The crisis can in no way find a solution within NATO, which is divided and paralyzed by Turkish expansionism in the Mediterranean. Recep Erdogan has transformed Turkey into an Islamic democratorship, which has broken with the values of democracy and the institutions of the rule of law. Turkey has multiplied its breaches of NATO principles and rules by equipping itself with Russian S-400 anti-aircraft batteries, by conducting a strategy of ethnic cleansing to the detriment of the Kurds in northern Syria, and by violating Greek sovereignty.

However, it enjoys a form of impunity within NATO, of which Recep Erdogan draws on all the resources. Indeed, Turkey has a key strategic position on the southern and eastern front of Europe and plays a decisive role in the American system of surveillance of the Near and Middle East. It has the second largest army in the Alliance. For these reasons and given Recep Erdogan's personal proximity to Donald Trump, Turkey enjoys the support of the United States, which has agreed to participate in maritime manoeuvres in the Mediterranean. Finally, the Europeans themselves are divided and only a minority has shown solidarity with Greece. 

NATO thus finds itself powerless in the face of the crisis opened by Turkey and once again weakened by the display of its divisions. This directly serves the ambitions of power of the democratorships and the projects of the jihadists to the detriment of the security of the democracies and of Europe. Two priorities result from this. The first consists in rebuilding the Atlantic Alliance around a community of democracies in the event of Donald Trump's defeat in the American presidential election. The second concerns the need for the European Union, regardless of the results of the American election, to implement a global policy of control of the Mediterranean and to adopt an effective strategy of confining the Turkish democratorship.

Copyright : Louisa GOULIAMAKI / AFP