This summer is not only hot due to heatwave, But also because of the capsules that the Turkish and Libyan axis attempts in the Eastern Mediterraneanat the expense of Greece. ‘Asymmetric War’ With the tooling of thousands of desperate immigrants he was transferred from Evros to the Libyan Seaat the same time The attempts to shake down Greece’s sovereign rights are intensified south of Crete. Central face in the hot tour summer we are going through is highlighted the commander Khalifa Haphtarthe warrior who controls Eastern Libya and was once the great hope of Athens to raise Turkish plans in the region.
Flirting with Haftar
The Greek government’s flirtation with the head of the National Libyan Army had reached its climax in January 2020, With Happear’s unexpected visit to Athens And his meetings, with then Foreign Minister Nikos Dendia, but also with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Visit, which was organized under a secrecy of secrecyhad been made three days before the Berlin conference on Libya, from which Greece has been blocked, and in an attempt to embrace the Turkish -tired Memorandum for the EEZsigned by the official government of Libya (which was not recognized by Happear) in Tripoli. Following their meeting, Nikos Dendias had stated that Greece was “ready to help Libya the next day (after reaching a truce in the country’s civil war), either by participating in those forces that need to be carried out by the European entertainment or by the European fireplace.
The climate was more than friendlyleaving smiles in the Greek leadership. Indeed, in the “cute” of that visit was the dinner to the commander not in a luxurious restaurant with a strict protocol, but in the warmest environment of the “Vlachs” of Vari.
Good relations with the Haftar government in Benghazi continued and in the coming period “Dear Erdogan, while you are isolated and demonized, Greece makes new friends, commented The National Libyan Army Account on Twitter. Everything showed that Greece had an ally in Libya, a development particularly important As Athens had demolished bridges with the Tripoli governmentdeporting the Libyan Ambassador to Athens at the end of 2019.
The end of the relationship
The departure of Nikos Dendia from the Foreign Ministry, however, changed the data. Changes to the global geopolitical scene brought by the Russian invasion to Ukraine, had as a side effect of abandoning multidimensional foreign policy in the region and the adoption of European Orthodoxy by re -enacting the Tripoli government. Haftar had Putin’s reputation. Under the pressure of GermanyAthens has turned to its policy in Libya.
Ankara found the opening they were looking for to “pass” the Turkolibian memorandum and from Benghazi, creating a single front in Libya in favor of its positions.
General Happere was raising stern, accusing Greece that the international competition for the granting of licensing and exploitation of hydrocarbons south of Crete “violates Libya’s sovereign rights”. Athens’ relations with Haftar arrived in Nadir last June, when the House of Libya’s representatives controlled by the commander agreed to start the process For the ratification of the Turkish -Tourcolibyan memorandum.
Greece has been in a position of defense as evolution came at a time when Turkey is exerting suffocating pressure in the Eastern Mediterranean, disturbing the Greek strategy of “calm waters”:
• Ankara constantly obstructs the Greece-Cyprus-Israel electric interconnection, with threats to overthrow the underwater cable.
• With a map of marine spatial planning posted to UNESCO cut off the Aegean in two.
• challenges the Greek continental shelf, Issuing NAVTEX to prevent the scientific research of the “Filia” vessel between Lemnos and Samothrace.
Pressure lever The immigrants
At the same time, At the maritime border with Libya, the focus of migration crisis has been carriedit seems that Happere has left the flows of people from Africa and the Middle East to Europe uncontrollable. Literally immigrant boats arrive everyday In Gavdos and Crete, driving the Maximos Mansion to announce the shipment of warships to international waters for patrol.
The suffocating situation in the area has led to Foreign Minister to visit Benghazi’s extraordinary to unblock the relationships with the hawfar. “Geography unites us, we share a part of the Mediterranean”, said George Gerapetritisconfirming that the demarcation of marine zones, migratory and Turkish influence are thorns.
Two days later, however, Haftar’s rupture with the European Union followed. To one unprecedented diplomatic actionthe strong man of Benghazi It has undesired the EU delegation as undesirable. who had arrived in eastern Libya for talks on immigration. Among them is the Greek Minister of Immigration and Asylum, Thanos Plevris.
Need to differentiate
OR Gerapetritis-Hftar meeting did not go wellestimates in the wake of developments the internationalist Athanasius written. Speaking to Alpha Radio 9.89 emphasized that Greece Required to be differentiated from European line again And to come back to consultation with the Happear side.
Summer continues to roll with all fronts with Libya open. The next time it is foreshadowed as hot.