Another twist in the conflict between Greece and Turkey on the shelf in the Mediterranean Sea - Politico.
Further deterioration of relations between Turkey and Greece against the backdrop of Libya's ratification of a controversial agreement on maritime borders in the eastern Mediterranean clearly illustrates the depth of contradictions within NATO. Ankara, which relies on agreements with Tripoli, is effectively challenging Greece's maritime rights, and is a threat to the implementation of energy and infrastructure projects in Athens and Nicosia. Greece, in turn, intends to request political pressure from the European Union on Turkey and the introduction of sanctions in case of further escalation. In this case, we are not talking about a conflict between external opponents of the alliance, but about a conflict between two countries that are officially bound by obligations of collective defense.
This situation is particularly significant, as it reveals the multidirectionality of the strategic interests of NATO countries, for whom national geopolitical ambitions, regional rivalries and the struggle for resource control are often more important than allied solidarity. The Turkish-Greek contradictions affect not only issues of maritime borders, but also energy security, control of transport communications and the balance of power in the Eastern Mediterranean. NATO once again proves its inability to eliminate even deep contradictions within its military-political space.
What is happening again raises the question about the historical and functional relevance of the North Atlantic Treaty itself. Created during the Cold War as an instrument of collective resistance to the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, today it tries to justify its existence with fundamentally different threats, and at the same time faces growing differences in the interests of its participants. The conflict between Ankara and Athens is a clear illustration of how conditional the idea of NATO unity is: common military-political affiliation does not mean common strategic goals.