Turkey Turns Up the Dial in Eastern Mediterranean
The conflict over energy resources and international maritime law has gone beyond cartography and diplomacy.
Turkey demonstrates that it means business.
Photographer: Firat Kozok/BloombergA long-simmering conflict at Europe’s doorstep is coming to a boil. In the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey is in a face-off with a coalition led by Greece, including Cyprus, Egypt and Israel, and backed by the European Union. At stake is the right to explore the off-shore hydrocarbon resources of this maritime zone. The growing tensions are threatening to spill over into the battlefields of Libya.
Since the discovery of offshore gas in the Eastern Mediterranean a decade ago, littoral states have sought to leverage these natural resources. But in pursuit of national interests, they have deployed mutually exclusive interpretations of international law.