President Erdoğan: Equations in which Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus are not fairly included cannot yield a Pax Mediterranea
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a speech at the “Symposium on International Maritime Law and the Eastern Mediterranean in terms of History, Politics and International Relations” in Istanbul.
“TURKEY WILL CONTINUE TO STAND BY AZERBAIJAN WITH ALL ITS MEANS”
Condemning Armenia’s attacks on Azerbaijan, President Erdoğan underlined that Turkey will continue to stand wholeheartedly by the brotherly and friendly Azerbaijan with all its means.
It is high time to put an end to the crisis caused by the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh, the President stressed, warning, “Peace and serenity will be restored in the region once Armenia, without delay, leaves the Azerbaijani lands it occupied. All the other impositions and threats will not only be unfair and illegal, but will also continue to spoil Armenia.”
President Erdoğan stated: “The recent developments in the region offer an opportunity for the countries which have influence over the region to put in place realistic and fair methods for a solution.”
“AZERBAIJAN HAD TO TAKE MATTERS INTO ITS OWN HANDS”
Drawing attention to the fact that the US, Russia and France, known as the Minsk Group, have failed to resolve the issue for 30 years, President Erdoğan continued as follows: “They have done, so-to-speak, everything in their power not to resolve the issue. And now they are giving advice and, from time to time, even uttering threats. What are those threats? ‘Is Turkey over here, are the Turkish soldiers present over here?’ Those who ask so are the very ones that transfer thousands of truckloads of weapons to our south, particularly to the north of Syria. Those asking so are the very ones that parcel out the north of Syria and build bases there for themselves. Those asking so are the very ones that roam freely with the coalition powers in Syria.”
Underscoring that the lands that are currently under occupation belong to Azerbaijan and that over 1 million people have to live away from their lands because of the occupation, President Erdoğan stressed that those responsible for the occupation have not been held to account thus far and that Azerbaijan, unavoidably, had the take matters into its own hands.
“TURKEY IS A MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRY”
Noting that issues related to the Mediterranean are recently high on the agenda of many countries, President Erdoğan stated that the international politics have been being shaped by the developments centered on the Mediterranean for the last couple of months.
Any step and any move in the Mediterranean is of direct concern to Turkey’s security, rights and interests, President Erdoğan stressed, and said: “Without doubt, topping the list is the rich hydrocarbon resources estimated to exist in the Eastern Mediterranean. Some researches put the amount of extractable natural gas in the region at more than 3.5 trillion cubic meters. This figure, which can cover Europe’s natural gas need for years, amounts to an economic strength which no country can ignore. In the background of some countries’ recent provocations lies this economic potential.”
Noting that global energy companies’ involvement in the issue has moved the Eastern Mediterranean to the center of the geopolitics of oil and natural gas, President Erdoğan stated: “At this point, we should underline the fact that it would be a superficial evaluation to think that Turkey’s interest in the region is only limited to energy resources. First and foremost, Turkey is a Mediterranean country. As has been the case throughout history, we are the host here, not a guest. The Preveza Naval Victory, the 482nd anniversary of which we commemorated yesterday, is one of the most glorious symbols of our long-standing presence in the Mediterranean. With this glorious victory achieved under the command of Barbaros Hayrettin Pasha in 1538, Turkish rule was established over the Mediterranean. A climate of peace, serenity and stability -- which was to last for centuries to come -- prevailed in this region, which served as the cradle of many civilizations throughout the history of humanity. This era, which went down in literature as Pax Ottomana, also represents the golden age of the Mediterranean in commercial and political respects. These centuries were also the most peaceful eras in the Balkans, Middle East and North Africa besides the Mediterranean basin.”
“TURKEY IS IN FAVOR OF PEACE AND JUSTICE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN”
With the decline of the Ottoman State, the Pax Ottomana in the Mediterranean suffered huge damage and colonialism gained momentum, the President said, adding, “The colonial mentality, which sees one drop of oil or one gram of gold as more valuable than human bloodshed, transformed the Mediterranean from a sea of peace and civilization into a sea of blood and tears. Under the rule of imperialists, the Mediterranean started to be mentioned with instabilities, conflicts, and in recent years, with refugees’ bodies washing ashore. A savage order, in which humanity has been shelved for the sake of oil, natural gas and self-interest, has now taken the place of the Pax Ottomana. It is this crooked mentality which turned the Mediterranean, the cradle of civilizations, into a giant grave for refugees.”
“This mentality, which glorifies the western man and trivializes all the other societies, is the archenemy of our civilization”, President Erdoğan noted, further stressing that those who have recently been escalating the tension in the Mediterranean are of representatives of the same mentality.
Underscoring that Turkey desires the restoration of the climate of peace in the Mediterranean, President Erdoğan said: “Turkey is in favor of peace, cooperation, justice and fairness, not tension, in the Mediterranean. Just as we are against imperial expansionism, we are also against unilateral impositions in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Mediterranean is a sea which unites and brings us closer to one another and strengthens our cooperation rather than divides us; and so it must be, so it must remain. The Mediterranean is the roof and home of our large family with all of its countries and rights, from Algeria to Egypt, from Libya to Tunisia, from Palestine to Israel, from Turkey to Greece, from Italy to Spain.”
“THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN ISSUE SHOULD BE ADDRESSED WITH A MULTIDIMENSIONAL PERSPECTIVE”
The President said: “We can resolve the problems in the Mediterranean not by excluding each other, but by gathering all the regional actors around the same table. Equations in which Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus are not fairly included cannot yield a Pax Mediterranea. Everyone must see and acknowledge that peace and stability cannot be established in the Mediterranean through preposterous maps and artificial projects reminiscent of the tables set to partition colonies in the 19th century.”
Underlining that the Eastern Mediterranean issue should be addressed with a multidimensional and broad perspective, President Erdoğan stated that no rightful and fair solution can be reached without analyzing how this issue has been dragged into a deadlock in the past 20 years.
Recalling Kofi Annan’s works on Cyprus, President Erdoğan said that the European Union also failed to deliver on the promises it gave to Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus during that period.
“INTERNATIONAL LAW WAS TRAMPLED ON UNDER THE PRETEXT OF EUROPEAN SOLIDARITY”
Underscoring that Greece’s and the Greek Cypriot side’s unjust and maximalist maritime boundary demands lie behind the issue, President Erdoğan noted: “The Greek Cypriot side, which was admitted as a member of the European Union before the Cyprus issue was settled, signed agreements with Egypt in 2003, with Lebanon in 2007 and with Israel in 2010 in disregard of the Turkish Cypriots.”
Also touching upon the first drilling by the Greek Cypriot side in 2011, President Erdoğan went on to say: “Turkey’s and the Turkish Cypriots’ well-intentioned efforts exerted during that period were underestimated. Especially, the European Union, which could not make use of the opportunities of diplomacy, bowed down to the spoilt acts of Greece and the Greek Cypriot side. International law was trampled on under the pretext of European solidarity. In the face of all this, we started to move forward on our own way as of 2018. Particularly with the Memorandum of Understanding which we signed with Libya on the Delimitation of the Maritime Jurisdiction Areas, we have protected the rights and interests of our country and Libya in the Eastern Mediterranean and further strengthened our country’s hand in terms of international maritime law.”
“ATTEMPTS AIMED AT SURROUNDING OUR COUNTRY FROM THE SEAS HAVE FAILED”
“It is our priority that disagreements be solved on the basis of international law and in line with fairness,” underscored President Erdoğan, adding that Turkey, in this regard, stands ready without any precondition for dialogue with Greece.
Drawing attention to the importance of holding an energy cooperation forum which will bring together all the parties, including the Turkish Cypriots, in the Eastern Mediterranean, President Erdoğan said: “Regarding this issue, we act in a self-confidence arising from our rightness in terms of both international law and maritime law. We have never compromised our calm stance despite the provocations of Greece and the Greek Cypriot side. We have declared it to the entire world that we will not succumb to the language of threat, pressure and blackmail in the Eastern Mediterranean. All the attempts aimed at surrounding our country from the seas failed. Turkey has laid bare that it will defend till the end the Turkish Cypriots’ rights together with its own rights.”
The President further noted: “I call on all our neighboring countries in the Mediterranean, Greece in particular, to abandon seeing the Eastern Mediterranean issue as a zero-sum game. Let us all, together, turn the Mediterranean into a basin of peace. Let us not soil clean waters of the Mediterranean through new hostilities. Let us make energy a means for cooperation, not for conflict.”
Stressing that Turkey has never refused the hand extended to it for peace so far, President Erdoğan added: “We have always run to those who have taken a single step towards us. Likewise, we lend all the necessary support to Chancellor of Germany Mrs. Merkel’s diplomatic efforts. I especially believe that we will reach a formula on the win-win basis that protects everyone’s rights if steps are taken with commonsense and sincerity.”
