Turkish FM suggests The Hague for settling maritime borders with Greece

With Cyprus saying it wants The Hague to take up the case of Turkey drilling for energy off the island, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that The International Court pf Justice (ICJ) in The Netherlands might be the venue to decide his country’s plans to look for oil and gas in Greek waters, including near the island of Crete.

That picks up on the suggestion made by New Democracy veteran and Greece’s former foreign chief, Dora Bakoyianni, who said, “We can stick with the status quo; this was the policy foundation at the foreign ministry all these years. I do not believe in this,” she said, adding that the European Union should form a “special partnership with Turkey” based on the condition that The Hague take part.

Cavusoglu told the Greek newspaper To Vima in an interview that the idea wasn’t discussed by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan when they met recently on the sidelines of a NATO meeting.

But, said Cavusoglu, “We do not automatically recognize the compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ and Greece has a reservation on Court’s jurisdiction on maritime boundary delimitation. Yet we are open to all options that are acceptable for both sides but we need to have a process of dialogue to reach such a mutually acceptable outcome.”

He didn’t explain the contradiction and complained about negative media coverage in Greece of Turkey as it repeatedly violates Greek airspace and waters and signed a deal with Libya dividing the seas between them, claiming Greek waters off islands, including Rhodes.

“Apparently, Turkey is always on the front pages of the Greek press, while our positions deliberately being portrayed as ‘aggressive,’ ‘hostile,’ and ‘irrational.’ However, in Turkey, we do not harbor negative sentiments towards Greece, and the Turkish public opinion as well the press focus on facts, rather than propagating negative views,” he said, without mentioning the state controls most of the press and has jailed critical journalists.

He defended the deal with Libya, a divided country where Turkey said it would send troops to back a United Nations-recognized government while Greece is siding with rebels who control the Parliament, setting the stage for an international crisis as to what role the United States would take over who to back: Turkey or Greece.

Cavusoglu said that “in our region, there are complex problems for which every party has its own legal interpretation. Turkey from the outset has always endorsed a policy, seeking dialogue in addressing these problems. Unfortunately, our calls for dialogue have fallen on deaf ears. Most littoral countries of the East Mediterranean ignored our calls and chose to proceed unilaterally… As a matter of fact, it was only Libya that our calls for dialogue echoed in… Turkey, as it has done in the past, will continue to defend its rights and interests in the region.”

While Turkey has occupied the northern third of Cyprus since al 1974 invasion and is drilling for energy in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the legitimate government – neither of which is recognized by Turkey – he blamed Cypriots for intransigence.

“The answer to (the) question (of why there is no settlement in Cyprus) is simple: There is a lack of political will on the Greek Cypriot side… No matter what they claim, the Greek Cypriot side does not want to share the power and the wealth with the Turkish Cypriots. Instead, they prefer to see them as a minority within their unitary state,” Cavusoglu said about the failure to reunify the island.

He didn’t mention the last round of negotiations fell apart in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana when Turkey insisted on keeping a 35,000-strong army on the island and as it demanded the right of further military intervention yet again.