(Video) Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV) The Big Picture: Turkey-Greece Tensions in the Mediterranean

Topic: Turkey-Greece Tensions in the Mediterranean

Guest:

Anil Trigunayat, (Former Ambassador)
Professor Ummu Salma Bava, (Centre for European Studies, JNU)
Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, (Foreign Editor, Hindustan Times)

Topic Description:

Turkey's big push into the Mediterranean featuring gas drilling, tough rhetoric and warships rooted in a grand vision of a "Blue Homeland" is causing concern from EU neighbors. Fearful of being denied a fair share of the region's bountiful natural gas wealth, Turkey sent a research vessel and a small navy armada into seas Greece claims as its own, dramatically escalating tensions on August 10. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday announced that Turkey had made its biggest-ever discovery of natural gas in the Black Sea. France, already at odds with Turkey over Libya and parts of the Middle East, sent in its own ships into the region to help out Greece, prompting Erdogan to warn he would retaliate against any attack. Critics say the "Blue Homeland" doctrine is the latest example of Turkey resorting to disruption to coerce others into achieving what it wants. But Turkish officials and former admirals responsible for the policy argue Greece's demands based on a scattering of tiny islands are unfair since Turkey has larger mainland territory in the eastern part of the sea.