Recently, there has been an escalation in neighboring Greece’s provocative actions against Turkey in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean.
Recently, research vessel Nautical Geo attempted to breach Turkey’s continental shelf in eastern Crete and southwestern Cyprus.
Afterwards, they held a military exercise in the Aegean, on Koyun Island, just across from İzmir, with the participation of the Deputy Minister of Defense.
In addition, the Greek Deputy Minister, posing with İzmir visible behind him, shared the following on his social media account, which reeks of chauvinism:
“Every island, every small island, every rocky islet, a Greek homeland! We are everywhere.”
Let’s just be clear that France is behind these recent Greek provocations against Turkey.
Recently, an agreement was signed between Paris and Athens. Make no mistake Turkey is the target of the Strategic Partnership Agreement for Cooperation in the Fields of Defense and Security, which was voted on and ratified in the Greek Parliament.
More precisely, this is an agreement that stipulates that France will side with Athens in the event of an attack on Greece.
Though, statements made by Greek opposition before the treaty was voted on, pointing that there is more to it than meets the eye.
Alexis Tsipras, who was well known by the Turkish public during his tenure as prime minister and currently represents the leadership of the Main opposition party, argued that this agreement does not stipulate that France will support Greece should any conflict arise with Turkey with regards to maritime jurisdictions.
To summarize the real nature of this agreement signed between France and Greece, we can again quote the same speech by Tsipras:
“France receives seven billion euros for Rafale (fighter jets) and frigates from a country like Greece with a high debt burden, whose debt has hit 210 percent of its gross domestic product, without any guarantee of involving the Greek defense industry in their manufacturing.”
One can surmise that there is a “chilling” French attitude that is exploiting Greece’s Turkey phobia to the max, forcing a country that is in the grips of an economic debt spiral to buy new billions of euros in arms.
But it does not end there.
In order to make better assessments, we need to step back a bit and look at the bigger picture.
There is a quest for leadership in Europe by, in part, using the military might of France.
Everyone saw just 20 days ago how the Macron administration was very furious when the U.S. and England joined forces together and got Australia to cancel its 90 billion-dollar submarine deal with France.
Now, in order to use this event for their own gains, the Paris administration has inked such an agreement with Greece, turning to its own claims about the future of Europe.
So, in a way, unfolding behind-the-scenes of these developments is the fight to assume the future leadership of Europe.
While Germany wants to maintain the leadership of the EU as an economic powerhouse, France is trying to sideline NATO and is working towards a Europe that is dominated by its own military power.
(In the same vein, it is worth remembering how Macron had described NATO as “brain dead.”)
Too bad then that France was not able to rally support for this cause from within Europe, with the excception of Greece.
In other words, the existence of NATO is still perceived as the most guaranteed security framework by many other EU member states.
Of course, when you say NATO, it is impossible not to mean America.
In this context, France’s main rival is not Germany, but the U.S.
Our assessments of France’s deal with Greece touch on the military and political aspects of the issue.
There is also an economic dimension to this, perhaps even the most crucial one when it comes to this development, which cannot be neglected.
According to a security expert’s assessment, the lobbies behind France’s arms industry are “nagging” Macron to sell more weapons and cultivate additional military markets.
With its quest to lead the continent, France dominating Europe’s defense sphere means 20 times, 30 times more money from Greece.
There is an economic dimension to the cancellation of the $90 billion submarine deal between France and Australia at the behest of the U.S. and the U.K., and the agreement inked between France and Greece with the aim of directly threatening Turkey.
So what must be done?
Since this issue always has an “emotional” component to it, wouldn’t it be a good idea to invite French investors in Turkey to warn against the recklessness of the Macron administration?
What if they told him that his personal vendetta against Turkey harms them?