Turkey is integrating the Cyprus issue into its broader expansionist plans for the region, with all developments viewed through this strategic framework according to the occupying side.
Ankara considers that its international weight has increased significantly in recent periods, with all moves and handling conducted in light of these developments.
Erdogan demonstrated this perception during his address to the United Nations General Assembly, with this understanding permeating all Turkish actions.
Turkey sent the message that any move in the Eastern Mediterranean necessarily passes through Turkey, which considers it holds primacy or seeks to have it.
Eastern Mediterranean control strategy
Based on this logic, Turkey will either grant “permission” for actions taken or will participate and be involved itself. Within this framework and alongside other moves, Ankara attempts to normalise relations with regional countries such as Egypt.
Simultaneously, Turkey maintains its proposal for convening an International Conference with Eastern Mediterranean states’ participation for zone demarcation and energy issues.
It includes both the occupying regime and the “Greek Cypriot administration,” as it terms the Republic of Cyprus, amongst participants.
American Ambassador to Ankara Tom Barak promotes this proposal in Washington, though he does not clarify the assembly’s composition.
Turkey considers the Eastern Mediterranean its own affair, though it obviously does not play alone.
Underground confrontation with Israel in Syria shows Ankara’s path is difficult, yet regional control remains its objective, imposing this through interventions with military power as the basic tool.
Turkey has strengthened its presence and actions in various other regions, including the Caucasus, Middle East and Africa, as well as the Balkans and elsewhere.
The Organisation of Turkic States is considered by Ankara an important tool for promoting its policies, including regarding the occupied areas.
No change in Cyprus position
The occupying Turkey’s position does not change on Cyprus. It rejects the United Nations framework and advocates the two-state solution. Erdogan’s appeal before the General Assembly for recognition of the occupying regime occurs for the third consecutive year.
He repeated it this year with the momentum of upgraded Turkey. The fact he expressed this position on the eve of the UN Secretary-General’s meeting with President Christodoulides and Ankara’s appointee in the occupied areas, Ersin Tatar, holds significance.
He mentioned it approximately three weeks before the illegal elections in the occupied areas.
Turkish officials make clear in private contacts that any substantive restart on Cyprus passes through recognition of sovereign equality and equal international status – the demand for prior recognition of the pseudo-state.
Turkey knows this can hardly happen but will clearly persist until circumstances and established facts impose it.
Occupying Turkey chooses to abandon the logic of “calm waters”, which was essentially artificial tranquillity, because red lines on both sides have not changed.
Turkey signals it will react if the Crete-Cyprus electrical interconnection project proceeds, demanding Greece and Cyprus cede sovereignty to Turkey.
