Turkey: Chasing ghosts, and being chased by them

Opinion Cyprus problemIsraelturkey Turkey: Chasing ghosts, and being chased by them Ρετζέπ Ταγίπ Ερντογάν σημαίες Id 854872 Relevant News Turkey: Chasing ghosts, and being chased by them 19 August 2026 Nick Kyrgios suspended from tennis after testing positive for cocaine 19 August 2026 British Bases Police announce zero-tolerance policy for bird trapping season 19 August 2026 Phileleftheros Editorial 19 August 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber The occupying side is chasing ghosts. Ankara pushes ahead with its expansionist agenda. It works to expand its reach, needles Cyprus and Greece at every turn, and then has the gall to demand an apology. It tries to stir up tension, keep it simmering, and dump the blame squarely on the Greek side. That’s the same old playbook the occupying power has run for decades. It ran it again just the other day, declaring marine parks in areas of the Northern Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, a move that isn’t just provocative but close to an act of aggression. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had the gall to claim that Greece, Cyprus and Israel have built a “security alliance” aimed, he says, squarely at Turkey. He made that claim at the very moment Turkey itself is busy stitching together its own alliances, most recently the so-called “Mecca Alliance” between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. On that one, Fidan insists this particular defence pact “isn’t directed against any country.” Every country’s history speaks for itself. We know exactly how occupying Turkey operates towards other states. And we know exactly how it uses other countries to serve its own geopolitical ambitions and strategic interests. Visiting Egypt a few days ago, a country Turkey is busy leaning on to join its Alliance, Fidan was asked about the Mecca Pact. Instead of answering, he pivoted to talk about Cyprus and Greece’s own partnerships, in this case with Israel. Fidan went further still: “We all know what the target of this alliance is,” he said, adding, “Turkey sits to the north of the Mediterranean, Egypt to the south, and there’s an alliance drawing a line straight down the middle.” So, by Turkish logic, is Cyprus somehow against Egypt too, a country whose ties with Cyprus never hit the turbulence Turkish-Egyptian relations did? Only a Turkish official could say that with a straight face. Cyprus enjoys excellent relations with every one of its neighbours, every single one, bar occupying Turkey. And those relations will only normalise once Turkey lifts the occupation it has imposed on the island. Occupying Turkey judges everyone else by its own standards. Its entire game plan rests on an expansionist policy, aggressive towards its neighbours and not only its neighbours. That policy has run unchanged for decades. It keeps getting away with it for exactly as long as the powerful players of the world let it. Subscribe to our Newsletter Latest News Nick Kyrgios suspended from tennis after testing positive for cocaine British Bases Police announce zero-tolerance policy for bird trapping season Things to do on Wednesday, August 19 Former Turkish Cypriot MEP Kizilyurek says he feels shame over Isaac, Solomou killings August rainfall proves highly beneficial, with 62mm falling in a single day Cyprus tourist arrivals fall 1.1% in July as Israel surge offsets European declines Jet ski accident reveals delay in new Cyprus boating rules Follow en.philenews on Google News and be the first to know all the news about Cyprus and the world.