Senior Turkish officials are warning that Ankara will turn its full diplomatic and military attention to the Aegean Sea and Cyprus once the conflict involving Iran concludes.
More specifically, a senior Turkish diplomat told Kathimerini that Greek Patriot missile systems recently deployed to Karpathos and the Evros region, along with a permanent fighter aircraft presence on Limnos, are among the core issues Ankara intends to address. Turkey will demand a return to the pre-conflict status quo and “will not accept faits accomplis,” the diplomat said.
“As soon as developments with the war and the Iran negotiations are over, all the attention of our defense and foreign ministries will turn to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean,” the diplomat told Kathimerini, warning that recent moves in the islands and Cyprus “will be examined carefully and their reversal will be sought.”
A senior official of Turkey’s ruling AKP party went further, suggesting that “the next conflict in the region may be in Cyprus,” citing what he described as an “intolerable” Israeli and French military presence on the island.
He alleged Israel seeks to shift confrontation there, believing it holds advantages in an aerial and naval engagement.
Another diplomat raised the possibility that, should Greek Cypriots fail to seize a new opportunity for reunification talks, Ankara and Turkish-Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman could consider making northern Cyprus Turkey’s “82nd city” – a step Turkey deliberately avoided in 1983 but which officials now suggest cannot be ruled out given changed circumstances.
Turkish media close to the government have characterized Cyprus as an “advanced military outpost,” pointing to French defense agreements, Israeli air defense systems and British base activity as evidence of a coordinated geopolitical buildup against Turkish interests.