By Antonis Anzoletou

THE Tayyip Erdogan he does not stop the maneuvers, the adjustments to the geopolitical data of each era, constantly reformulating his tactics in foreign policy. He saw Ismail Haniya displeasing Israel and apparently Washington, he announced a military operation in Northern Iraq, the German president Frank Steinmeier went to Ankara and at the same time he is preparing – unexpectedly because the background is intense – his bags for the USA. Its mediating role in the testing Middle East is developing in parallel with the new “grey” operation of the Aegean.

On May 13, Kyriakos Mitsotakis will visit Ankara to meet him, and a new topic has already entered the agenda that caused surprise on the Greek side. The two marine parks announced by the prime minister that he would create in the Ionian and Aegean seas angered the “sultan” who took the opportunity to bring back the rhetoric of challenges. A Turkey from the “old days” as it is known from 1996 onwards…

Does it bother the Turkish president that the Greek government wants to protect the environment of the Cyclades? Possibly Turkey is showing the limits of the rapprochement and the good climate of the two countries. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs once again brought the theory of “gray zones” to the fore, showing that the distance that must be covered between the two countries before the critical issues (EEZ, continental shelf) are brought to the table is very long.

He asked to have a say in regards to the marine park of the Aegean and a new “bra de fer” began. No one expected, as Kyriakos Mitsotakis from Brussels emphasized last Thursday, that Turkey would retreat from its fixed positions because of the calm that has existed for about 14 months in the Aegean. The data is now concrete. Crucial issues cannot be brought to the top level, as the “wreck” should be taken for granted.

The Aegean marine park has not been demarcated. It will start from the Cyclades and will extend to Nisyros and will include many bans on activities that will endanger marine life. Could Athens do something differently? No, as it would be seen as a concession to the exercise of sovereign rights. It is recalled that there was also tension when Cyprus proceeded with its own spatial planning in the sea. The Treaty of Lausanne is clear on this subject in Articles 12 and 16. It expressly states that Turkish sovereignty is limited only to to as many islands as are within three miles from the Turkish coasts including Imbros and Tenedos and that he renounces all title to the other islands. The most likely development is the declaration of the marine park by Greece for the protection of marine mammals, with Turkey not recognizing its existence.

The “new image” of Tayyip Erdoğan cannot but be connected with his deafening defeat in the recent municipal elections. He knows that the Kemalist CHP will not let anything slip from now on and will put a lot of pressure on the ruling party with a potentially renewed agenda of claims against Greece. The scenario is known as long as things don’t get out of control: Erdogan will be led to restore the concept of co-ownership in the maritime areas of the Aegean with the Greek side being on constant alert.