THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIV, Issue # 27, February 7, 2012
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
KASTELORIZO: MEDITERRANEAN FLASHPOINT?
By Dr. Daniel Pipes
GREECE, GREEK ISLANDS, CYPRUS, ISRAEL, TURKEY, & MIDDLE EASTERN GEOPOLITICS: KASTELORIZO, EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONES, & MASSIVE
OFF-SHORE GAS & OIL DISCOVERIES -- THE EMERGING ALLIANCE OF GREECE, CYPRUS, & ISRAEL -- MAKING IT POSSIBLE TO TRANSPORT CYPRIOT & ISRAELI
NATURAL GAS OR ELECTRICITY TO WESTERN EUROPE WITHOUT TURKEY'S PERMISSION -- HEIGHTENED TURKISH AGGRESSIVENESS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA
FULL STORY:
Remember the name Kastelorizo. You heard it here first.
It is the far-flung, easternmost island of Greece, 80 miles from Rhodes, 170 miles west of Cyprus, but just 1 mile off the coast of Turkey. Kastelorizo, or officially
Megisti, is tiny, comprising just 5 square miles, plus some yet smaller, uninhabited islands. Its 430 inhabitants are way down from 10,000 in the late Nineteenth
Century. The Lonely Planet travel guide has picked it as one of the four best Greek islands (out of thousands) for diving and snorkeling. There's no public
transportation from nearby Anatolia, only from distant Rhodes by airplane or ferry.
That Athens controls this wisp of land off the coast of Anatolia, implies it could (but does not yet) claim an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Mediterranean
Sea that reduces the Turkish EEZ to a fraction of what it would be were the island under Ankara's control.
Were Athens to claim its full EEZ, Kastelorizo's presence would make its EEZ contiguous with the EEZ of Cyprus, a factor with great import now, at a moment of
massive off-shore gas and oil discoveries. Kastelorizo, with an EEZ, benefits the emerging Greece-Cyprus-Israel alliance by making it possible to transport either
Cypriot and Israeli natural gas (via pipeline) or electricity (via cable) to Western Europe without Turkish permission. This has taken on special urgency since
November 4, 2011, when Turkey's Minister of Energy, Taner Yildiz, announced that his government would not permit Israeli natural gas to transit Turkish
territory; Ankara will likely also ban Cypriot exports.
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling AKP party colleagues accept Greek control of Kastelorizo and its six nautical miles of territorial
waters, but not more, and certainly not its full EEZ rights. Indeed, in their eyes, Greek assertion of an EEZ constitutes a casus belli. By neutering Kastelorizo,
Ankara can lay claim to a large economic area in the Mediterranean and block cooperation among its adversaries. This is why the island could become a
flashpoint.
Several developments point to AKP intimidation of Greece concerning Kastelorizo. First, in September, 2011, the Turkish government authorized a Norwegian
ship, the Bergen Surveyor, accompanied by other sea craft, to begin prospecting for gas and oil south of Kastelorizo, including some of the island's continental
shelf. Second, Turkish warships have trained with live ammunition between Rhodes and Kastelorizo. Finally, Turkish military aircraft four times in 2011 overflew
Kastelorizo without permission, sometimes very low with reconnaissance aircraft.
This bellicosity fits a larger pattern. The AKP government, especially since it has taken full control of the Armed Forces in late July, has shown increasing
hostility toward Cyprus, Israel, Syria, and Iraq. In addition, Ankara has long denied Cyprus its EEZ, so doing the same vis-à-vis Kastelorizo builds on an
established policy. Indeed, the Turks' brutal, napalm-assisted 1974 conquest of the northern 36 percent of Cyprus set a precedent for seizing nearby island
territory. Grabbing Kastelorizo would require about as much time as reading this article.
So far, responses to heightened Turkish aggressiveness in the Mediterranean have focused on deterring Turkish feints toward gas and oil reserves in the
Cypriot EEZ, with navies and statements from the United States and Russia backing the Republic of Cyprus' right to exploit its economic resources. Cypriot
President Demetris Christofias warned that if Ankara persists with its gunboat diplomacy, "there will be consequences which, for sure, will not be good." Israeli
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told the Greeks that, "If anyone tries to challenge these drillings, we will meet those challenges" and his government
enhanced security not only for its own maritime fields but also for drilling areas in Cypriot waters. On at least one occasion, Israeli warplanes have confronted
Turkish ships.
Such clear signals of resolve are welcome. As the European Union pushes Greece to drill for hydrocarbons to find new sources of income, it should also
support Athens declaring its EEZ, reject AKP troublemaking vis-à-vis Kastelorizo, and clearly indicate the dire results for Turkey of any trouble-making toward
an island now happily renowned for its diving and snorkeling.
© 2012 by Daniel Pipes. All rights reserved.
Originally Published in National Review Online, February 7, 2012
Republished with the Permission of Daniel Pipes
Reprinted from the Daniel Pipes Mailing List, February 7, 2012
URL: http://www.danielpipes.org/10630/kastelorizo
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Greece, Greek Islands, Cyprus, Turkey,
& the Eastern Mediterranean
Cyprus on the World Stage -- Cyprus & Its Neighbors
Turkey, the Middle East, Israel, & the U.S.A.
Israel, Arabs, & the Islamic Middle East -- The Israeli-Arab Conflict;
Israeli Politics, Government, & Public Policy -- Public Issues & Controversies;
The State of Israel in War & Peace -- Israel's Role in International Relations;
Israeli Military Defense & National Security -- The Israeli Economy
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Dr. Daniel Pipes, a Ph.D. in Islamic History (Harvard University, 1978), is Founder and President of the Middle East Forum,
Publisher of Middle East Quarterly,
Founder of Campus Watch, Taube Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, a
signatory of the Project for the New American Century, a former board member of the U.S. Institute of Peace, a former
adjunct scholar at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a Golden Circle supporter of the U.S. Committee for a Free
Lebanon, a former member of the U.S. Department of Defense Special Task Force on Terrorism and Technology, and a
former lecturer at the U.S. Naval War College, Harvard University, the University of Chicago, and the University of
Pennsylvania. Dr. Pipes was the Director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute from 1986 to 1993.
Author or co-author of eighteen books, Dr. Pipes is a regular columnist for National Review Online, Front Page
Magazine, the New York Sun, and the Jerusalem Post. His analyses of world trends and of forces and
developments in the Middle East have appeared in numerous North American newspapers, including the Washington
Post, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He frequently appears on American network
television, as well as at universities and think tanks, to discuss the Middle East, Islam, and the Islamist threat to the
U.S.A. and the West. He also has appeared on BBC and Al Jazeera, and has lectured in approximately
twenty-five countries.
Dr. Pipes is a Polish-American Jew whose parents fled Poland in 1939, immigrated to the U.S.A., and assimilated well into
American society and culture. His father is Richard Pipes, an American historian specializing in Russian and Soviet history
and serving as Professor of History at Harvard University from 1950 until his retirement in 1996. During the Cold War, the
worldview of Richard Pipes was strongly anti-Soviet and anti-Communist.
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume XIV, 2011
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity