Ankara’s potential military deployment to Libya shows Turkey’s growing clout in a volatile region, where the country has recently flexed its muscles from northern Syria to northern Iraq, going after the PKK/YPG terror groups.
Turkey made a big investment in improving its naval defences in the last decade, increasing the number of warships and military vessels and relying on homegrown technology.
Described as a Cold War casualty, Russia has been reasserting itself both politically and militarily. Experts argue that Moscow aims to reclaim its old glory.
US President refuses to endorse bill, which angered Turkey, and exposed rifts between the White House and US lawmakers.
Turkey’s deal with Libya’s UN-recognised government in Tripoli is a signal to other Mediterranean states that Ankara can block their gas routes.
Ankara says the maritime sovereignty of war-affected Libya cannot be violated by Israel, Egypt, Greece and other regional players for their gas pipeline project in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Turkey's Energy Minister Fatih Donmez says the ship, Yavuz, began operations in an area off the Karpas peninsula where TRNC foreign minister says the meeting between Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders does not bring much hope to solve the issues.
Instead of taking on the role of fair mediator, Brussels has broken its own rules to accept the Republic of Cyprus into the EU and is now inflaming tensions with Turkey over natural resources.
The fifth Mediterranean conference, hosted in the divided capital of Nicosia, in Cyprus, produced a joint declaration which favoured Greek Cypriot political positions, angering Turkey.
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