Problems between NATO’s 2 biggest militaries: Greece and Turkey

Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

Important Takeaways:

  • Rising tensions between 2 of NATO’s biggest militaries are driving fears of the first war between alliance members
  • Greece and Turkey have two of NATO’s largest militaries and are in an important corner of Europe.
  • They also have longstanding disputes that continue to roil their relationship and affect the alliance.
  • Their tensions have escalated in recent years, stoking new fears about the first war within NATO.
  • Both countries have lost jets and pilots in encounters over the eastern Aegean, and each side regularly accuses the other of flying over their territory in the area.
  • Their disputes include divided Cyprus and the weaponization of migrants, but much of their tension centers on the islands in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean seas.
  • Greece, citing the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, argues that its hundreds of Aegean islands give it rights to territorial sea and exclusive economic zone. Turkey has not signed UNCLOS and argues that islands do not have the same territorial rights as mainland.
  • Turkey’s parliament has authorized a declaration of war if Greece extends its territorial waters in the Aegean from its current 6 nautical miles up to the 12 miles allowed by UNCLOS.
  • The island dispute has escalated in recent months.

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