Ankara is attempting to downgrade Greek-Egyptian cooperation, approaching Cairo to upgrade bilateral relations between them, while it seems that a visit is planned at the level of Foreign Ministers and Secret Services, with Erdogan's clear objective being the Castelorizo EEZ and the isolation of Cyprus, as well as the blow to Greece on the energy level.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his meeting in New Delhi with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Sunday was "very positive" and that Ankara seeks to strengthen relations with Cairo, according to Turkey's ambassador to Egypt Salih Mutlu Sen.
Erdogan said Egyptian and Turkish officials will arrange dates for exchanging mutual presidential visits, according to Mutlu Sen. "We have instructed our foreign ministers and intelligence chiefs to arrange the date of the visits," Erdogan told Turkish reporters.
On Sunday, Erdogan met with El Sisi on the sidelines of the G20 summit, the first official meeting between the two leaders since the two nations resumed relations, ending a decade-long rift. Cairo and Ankara upgraded diplomatic relations to ambassadorial level in July.
After Sunday's meeting, Egyptian presidential spokesman Ahmed Fahmy said in a statement that El Sisi and Erdogan agreed to strengthen cooperation between the two countries, building on the notable steps achieved in recent months.
Both leaders pledged to "enhance cooperation on regional issues on the basis of mutual respect and in line with the imperative of maintaining security and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean region," Fahmy added.
Upon his return, Erdogan told reporters that the two countries would increase bilateral trade exchanges and revive the Strategic Cooperation Council, according to Mutlu Sen. "We will strengthen relations between Turkey and Egypt where they should be, as both countries have huge economic and trade potential," he said.
He added that Turkey aims to cultivate stronger relations with Egypt, stressing that the two countries will be able to achieve positive results on many regional issues, especially the Syrian issue.
In the Pentapost from July, we had revealed Erdogan's plan for the Castelorizo EEZ, the Turkish-Turkish memorandum and Cyprus, as Egypt-Turkey lay the groundwork for cooperation in the defense industry.
The Egypt-Turkey rapprochement should be closely followed by us, as our country has made the partial delimitation of the EEZ west of the 28th meridian with the country of the Pharaohs, while maintaining friendly-allied relations with it, also signing the electrical interconnection between them through an undersea cable.
As a result of the above, the "Turkish Blue Homeland" is being cut off south of Crete and the illegal Turkish-Turkish memorandum, which provides for the delimitation of the EEZs of Libya and Turkey, is becoming completely unenforceable. This seems to be what Erdogan is trying to reverse by proceeding to delimit the Turkish-Egyptian EEZs.
As it is clear from the course of the re-engagement of Greek-Egyptian relations, our country should continue its efforts to further broaden and deepen its excellent relations with Egypt, focusing mainly on Turkish-Egyptian relations in the fields of energy, defence cooperation and diplomacy, preventing Turkish moves that counteract its interests in the South-Eastern Mediterranean.
It is clear that Turkish diplomacy is attempting to muddy the waters of the Mediterranean with the ultimate aim of downgrading Greece's role in the region, by securing key contacts with allied states with which our country has broken with in the past.
This is a difficult task for Ankara, since its unreliability, revisionism and generalised aggression against neighbouring states make it a precarious ally-partner, making it particularly difficult for Turkey to maintain its position and illegal claims in the region. However, Greece should not be complacent, closely monitoring Turkish plans and making moves that demonstrate our country's strategic position on the Mediterranean chessboard.
