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Türkiye, Erdogan's plan to conquer the Mediterranean

After the agreement with Libya, Turkey's maritime expansionism, certified by the Blue Homeland Plan, aims to block any ambition by Cyprus, Greece, Egypt and Israel to organize the transport of gas in the Mediterranean without counting Turkey - Even at the cost of challenging Europe: what will Merkel's presidency of the EU do?

Türkiye, Erdogan's plan to conquer the Mediterranean

As fears of a second wave of Covid-19 grow around the world, Turkey is focused on something much more important: the conquest of the Mediterranean.

The dream of expanding the Ottoman Empire by land has led to incursions into Syria and disputes over Kurdish territories, while Turkish aims at sea have caused December clashes with Cyprus over the controversial agreement signed by Ankara with Libya. Hidden in the folds of an alleged security and assistance corridor between Turkey and Libya, lies the design of a real Turkish-controlled "highway" to replicate what has already been experienced in the Exclusive Economic Zone (Eez) in Cypriot waters . Not surprisingly, in early December, Greek naval forces had been sent to make Turkey desist from seeking energy sources at sea, so much so that the Greek defense minister had threatened to exercise the right to self-defense at any cost.

An expansionist plan of this magnitude did not arise by chance: it is a project studied over time, which since June 14 years ago has found an echo in the proclamations of its most ardent supporter, the ultra-nationalist Admiral Gurdeniz. Once the military bases have been established in Qatar and Somalia and a naval base in Sudan has been made operational, now the goal is to extend the plan - also thanks to the Libyan agreement - to the point of creating a maritime border with Egypt, taking advantage of the absence of a maritime border between Greece and Cyprus.

The Turkish naval exercises of February 2019 were nicknamed "Mavi Vatan", or "Blue Homeland", taking up Gurdeniz's words (which have also been published in a substantial book). After that, last September President Erdogan proclaimed the success of the maneuvers carried out in December 2018, which - according to the Sultan - tested the reaction force of the Turkish military fleet, capable of managing a possible conflict on several fronts: from Eastern Mediterranean to the Aegean, passing through the Black Sea. A declaration that had two objectives: to demonstrate how much Turkey contributes to the stability of the NATO agreement and to prepare the ground for the imminent memorandum between Libya and Turkey.

The European Union has already given an initial response to this provocation by rejecting the memorandum and confirming its support for Greece and Cyprus, involved in the maritime dispute. In 45 years of Aegean dispute along the 25th meridian, no holds barred, every time a Court rejected Turkey's hope of recognition of the extension of its maritime borders, basing it on the absence of borders between Greece and Cyprus, Turkey itself signed partial agreements (such as those with Bulgaria, Romania and Russia), drawing the limits of new Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). Since December 7, however, the memorandum of understanding signed by Erdogan with the head of Libya's Government of National Accord, Fayez al-Serray, officially defies the rules of international law. In fact, the agreement establishes the borders of yet another exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Turkey and Libya, which however this time has not only security in mind, but also the research and management of energy resources in the area.

Meanwhile, according to what was published by the National Observatory for Human Rights in Syria (Ondus), hundreds of non-Syrian fighters operating in the jihadist ranks, united with Chinese Uyghur fighters from Xiniang (also known as Turkestan), have moved to training camps Turks with final destination Libya to support the forces of the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli (the news is also confirmed by sources in the Arab newspaper al-Arabya). The Turkish army then completed the deployment of militia in northwestern Syria after the truce in Idlib. With the "Blue Homeland" plan, Ankara evidently aims to block Cyprus, Egypt, Greece and Israel in the bud, which would like to organize a gas transport and trade line without first dealing with the Turks.

The semester of the German Presidency of the European Union begins on July 2020st and there is no shortage of hopes for a conciliation of European countries on the Recovery Fund. Who knows if there will also be room for foreign policy: Mediterranean issues could soon return to be central to our country, which in June 8 changed sides, siding alongside the Greeks to stem Turkish ambitions on gas and oil. The goal is to protect a series of Eni contracts and the XNUMX billion cubic meters of gas that supplies our market every year from Libyan fields arriving in Gela.

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