Countering Turkey in the Mediterranean for regional peace necessary

Paris/Istanbul: French President Emmanuel Macron issued a stern warning, ‘Peace must prevail in the Mediterranean Sea and thereby countering a colonial regime such as Turkey is pertinent’. In the past few months, a dispute has sparked between Turkey and Greece, where France is firmly supporting the latter. Only last week, France took an assertive stance of military action against Turkey. Although France and the European nations were adding pressure, Turkey continued with its aggressive behaviour and threatened Greece. Also, Turkish President Recep Erdogan threatened that Greece must negotiate or prepared for intense suffering.

France-Turkey ties have strained over Libya war, NATO’s stand and energy excavation in the Mediterranean Sea. Snubbing the appeals from Greece and European nations, Turkey has forcefully begun energy excavation in the Mediterranean Sea. To back its activities, Turkey has stepped up military deployment significantly and begun holding back to back drills in the region. Turkey has even started threatening European nations by citing references to the past. However, France has adopted an extremely assertive stance and his direct mention of Turkey as a colonial regime has only corroborated the stand.

French President issued a stern warning to Turkey and said, ‘Peace must essentially prevail in the Mediterranean Sea. We need to counter regional powers like Turkey, which give references to its fantastic past and threatens others. France will continue with its stance and actions over sovereignty of the Mediterranean Sea region. Countries like Turkey only understand such language. It is France’s policy not to let Turkey cross the ‘red line’.’ At the time, President Macron also reiterated the allegations against Turkey by stating its actions were not in line with policies of NATO member nations. Furthermore, France has already demanded the European Union (EU) impose strict sanctions against Turkey.

Turkey has threatened Greece again despite knowing that France and the EU are backing it. Turkish President Erdogan threatened that ‘We expect Greece of being knowledgeable of political dialogue. If it does not understand it, it must prepare to bear extreme suffering. Turkey has the military might to tear down the illegal maps and agreements enforced by others. The ones opposing Turkey will soon experience this.’ Before that, sources had informed that Turkey announced holding new military exercise with Northern Cyprus. The activity is expected to escalate tensions sharply.

Just as Turkey is holding the said exercise, even the Russian Navy announced conducting two exercises back to back in the Mediterranean Sea. Russian Spokesperson has said that its navy will be carrying out the drills from 8th to 25th of September which will see participation from its warships. A reaction has emerged from Turkey over Russia’s announcement. Now the country has warned Russian warships not to interfere in its operations.

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