“We do not accept blockades in the Aegean and Cyprus,” says Recep Tayyip Erdogan, sending messages about the Eastern Mediterranean and energy cooperation in the region.
At the focus of the current geopolitical agenda in Eastern Mediterranean are dynamically re-emerging the Greece-Turkey, with Recep Tayyip Erdogan restating from the Antalya Diplomacy Forum the firm positions of Angara on the Aegean Sea and Cyprus, linking the issue to broader energy and strategic plans in the region. The Turkish president, in a speech with a strong diplomatic and political footprint, underlined the intention to cooperate on energy and interconnections, while setting red lines against policies that – as he claims – exclude Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot side. At the same time, he fitted his positions into a broader international context, referring to crises such as Ukraine and Gaza, attempting to reinforce Turkey’s image as an active regulator of regional developments.
All developments in the Middle East region, the Hormuz Strait and the war in Ukraine were discussed by Rep. Tayyip Erdogan during his speech at the Antalya Forum. The Turkish president said at the same time, he is open to cooperation with his neighbors in the fields of energy and connectivity, adding, however, that he will not accept unilateral policies that exclude his country and Turkish Cypriots from the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Belonging to multiple goals
“I want it to be known that, as Turkey, we are open to cooperation with our neighbors in the fields of energy and connectivity through pioneering projects,” Erdogan said, adding that “we want to see the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean as a basin of stability and prosperity. We reject unilateral policies that exclude Turkey and the ‘TRNC’.”
“Today the world, along with a crisis of power, is also experiencing a crisis of orientation. From the current situation it seems that we are on a serious and dangerous threshold. The mechanisms that have the responsibility to protect human rights and global security remain powerless against the most violent attacks, and often even indifferent,” the Turkish president said at another point to add: “The crisis in the world system is first and foremost a moral and existential crisis. To see the magnitude of the crisis, one only has to look at Gaza after October 7. To interpret the events in Gaza only as a humanitarian tragedy is incomplete. The genocide in Gaza has clearly shown what the current system allows. How can we be expected to trust a system that failed yesterday in Syria and Gaza, and today in the West Bank and Lebanon, to pass the basic test of humanity?”
On the U.S. ceasefire with Iran, he said: “We believe that the window of opportunity opened by the ceasefire should be effectively used to establish a lasting peace. No matter how deep the issues, dialogue must not be allowed to be replaced by weapons and negotiations by bloody fights.”
Other issues
He also advocated free passage through the Strait of Hormuz, saying: “On one side of the Strait of Hormuz is Iran, on the other side is Oman. The Gulf countries’ right of access to the high seas should not be restricted. The essential thing is to ensure freedom of navigation on the basis of established rules and to keep the Strait open to merchant ships.”
On the war in Ukraine, he said that “Turkey is ready to support facilitation steps to continue direct negotiations, including a leaders’ meeting, if the sides so wish.”
Finally, on Turkey’s EU accession, he said that “while we maintain the goal of full membership in the European Union, we expect the Union to overcome its orientation problems and remain true to the vision of its founding leaders.”
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