August 14, 2020
Nope. Didn't See THIS Coming.
France has deployed fighters, a Helicopter Carrier and a frigate to Cyprus in order to deter a feared Turkish invasion of Greece.
Turkey sent an oil exploration vessel into Greek territorial waters with a strong naval escort. The Greeks then sent a naval force to eject the trespassers whereupon hijinks ensued...exactly what sort of hijinks is unclear but it involved either an accidental collision or deliberate ramming between a Greek and a Turkish warship.
There's been weirdness going on on the Graeco-Turkish border for some time (not counting the fact that Greece fought many wars with Turkey from its independence 202 years ago to after WW1). As recently as May, Turkey invaded a 1.6 hectare piece of Greek marsh (yes, 4 acres). This was ostensibly in response to the meandering of the Evros river, which is on the border, but it raised tensions. The recent naval confrontations are not reducing those tensions, and given Turkish President Ergodan's expansionist rhetoric, the French have just put their foot down. This is a small force, little more than a tripwire, but it is good to see that the French at least are taking this situation seriously.
This is getting coverage, but it's very much back page coverage. I suppose that's to be expected. I mean really, who ever heard of some damned fool thing in the Balkans ever amounting to anything newsworthy?
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
05:33 PM
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Oh, so the next time two members of NATO fight each other, it might involve at least one more member!
Posted by: cxt217 at Fri Aug 14 22:22:57 2020 (4i7w0)
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Italy is supporting Turkey, too.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Sat Aug 15 11:49:29 2020 (LZ7Bg)
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