Positive first step': Greece hails return of Turkish vessel

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Turkish seismic survey vessel, whose research in a disputed area of the eastern Mediterranean has been at the heart of a weeks-long standoff between Ankara and Athens, has returned to waters near southern Turkey - a move Greece said was a positive first step in easing tensions over offshore natural resources.

But Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar played down the significance of the move, saying the ship had returned to shore as part of scheduled plans and insisted it did not mean Ankara was "giving up our rights there".

"There will be planned movements backwards and forwards," Akar told state news agency Anadolu in Antalya, southern Turkey, on Sunday.

Neighbours and NATO allies Turkey and Greece have overlapping claims to continental shelves and rights to potential energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean. Tensions flared last month after Ankara sent Oruc Reis to map out possible oil and gas drilling prospects in waters claimed by Greece, Cyprus and Turkey.

Turkey's navy had issued an advisory earlier this month saying the vessel would continue operations in the area until September 12. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had said it would continue exploratory operations for longer but no extension to the advisory was issued as of noon.




Refinitiv ship tracking data showed Oruc Reis, along with two accompanying naval vessels, returned to a location just off the coast of Antalya.

The move was welcomed by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Sunday.

"The return of Oruc Reis is a positive first step, I hope there will be continuity. We want to talk with Turkey but in a climate without provocations," he told reporters in Thessaloniki.

Ankara faces potential sanctions from the European Union, which fully supports member states Greece and Cyprus, over the dispute. But many states, including Germany, want to defuse the stand-off through dialogue.

"A sanctions list exists as an option [against Turkey]. Our desire is not to see it implemented but it will be done if we see that the other side is not returning to the path of logic," Mitsotakis said.

Military build-up
The dispute over potential oil and gas reserves triggered a military build-up in the eastern Mediterranean, with Turkey and Greece both dispatching warships to the area and conducting military exercises to assert their claims.


Turkey has repeatedly said it is open to solving issues with Greece through dialogue but publicly rejected any conditions, including Oruc Reis halting operations, before negotiations.

"If there are those who set preconditions for Turkey, we have preconditions too and these preconditions need to be met," Cavusoglu said during a news conference on Saturday, without elaborating.

Earlier in September, Mitsotakis said his country would only start talks with Turkey to resolve conflicting claims once Turkish "provocations" ceased.


Turkey blasts 'arrogant' Macron amid eastern Med crisis talks (2:37)
Akar said Turkey supports peace and dialogue "if our wishes and demands are fulfilled".

Turkey rejects EU criticism and says the bloc should remain impartial in the dispute, arguing the waters where exploratory natural gas drilling was being conducted were part of its Turkish continental shelf.

Turkey says it has a legitimate claim over the area in the eastern Mediterranean. There is no agreement between Greece and Turkey delimiting their continental shelves, while Turkey disputes any claims by Cyprus, with which it has no diplomatic relations.


Cyprus was split in a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek-inspired coup. Its internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government represents the whole island in the European Union, though its authority is effectively contained to the southern part. North Cyprus is an unrecognised Turkish Cypriot state recognised only by Ankara.

James Ker-Lindsay, a professor at the London School of Economics, said at the heart of the dispute is a 1924 maritime accord agreement between Turkey and Greece that is now outdated. He said Turkey is claiming one tiny Greek island is cutting off its access to vast gas resources.

"It's an incredibly complex problem. A hundred years ago the two sorted out their borders but times have changed. International law was in a very different place, you couldn't explore deep waters. But with technology we've now been able to," he told Al Jazeera.

Pompeo in Cyprus


Amid the tension, Mitsotakis on Saturday announced a "robust" arms purchase programme and an overhaul of the country's military.

In a keynote address in Thessaloniki, he said Greece would acquire 18 French-made Rafale warplanes, four multipurpose frigates, and four navy helicopters, while also recruiting 15,000 new troops and pouring resources into the national arms industry and cyberattack defence. New anti-tank weapons, navy torpedoes and air force missiles will also be secured, he added.

Mitsotakis is believed to have hammered out the programme after talks with French President Emmanuel Macron during a southern European leaders summit in Corsica this week. France has strongly backed Greece in its burgeoning showdown with Turkey, as well as Cyprus.


Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday took aim at Macron following French criticism of Turkish maritime activities in the eastern Mediterranean, as tensions between the NATO allies continue to escalate.

"You will have many more problems with me," Erdogan said in a televised speech in Istanbul. "Don't mess with the Turkish people. Don't mess with Turkey."

Separately on Saturday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for a diplomatic solution to the dispute between Greece and Turkey, saying continuing military tensions between the NATO allies only serve the alliance's enemies.

"Increased military tensions help no one but adversaries who would like to see division in transatlantic unity," Pompeo said after talks in Nicosia with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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NEWS/ISRAEL
What is behind Bahrain's normalisation deal with Israel?
Bahrain moves to please the US, deter perceived regional threats by following in the UAE's footsteps, analysts say.

by Farah Najjar
13 Sep 2020 19:52 GMT
Palestinian men burn the exed out portraits of the Bahraini king, US president and the Israeli PM during a protest in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza Strip [Mahmud Hams/AFP]
Palestinian men burn the exed out portraits of the Bahraini king, US president and the Israeli PM during a protest in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza Strip [Mahmud Hams/AFP]
Twenty-six years after Bahrain welcomed an Israeli delegation for the first time, the small Gulf archipelago last week became the latest Arab country to agree to normalise its relationship with Israel.

It did not come as a surprise. Ever since US President Donald Trump announced on August 13 that the United Arab Emirates and Israel had agreed to establish diplomatic ties, there had been rife speculation that Bahrain would be next.

Despite Bahrain declaring last month that it was committed to the creation of a Palestinian state, the island state was always likely to follow the UAE suit "once the taboo had been broken", Ian Black, visiting senior fellow at the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics, told Al Jazeera.

Home to the US Navy's regional headquarters and connected to Saudi Arabia by a 25km (16 miles) causeway, Bahrain in recent years seemed less reluctant to publicise its relations with Israel.

In February 2017, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa met Jewish leaders in the United States and reportedly expressed opposition to the boycott of Israel by Arab countries. Later that year, the government-backed This is Bahrain interfaith group sparked outrage among Palestinians when it visited Israel only days after Trump had announced his controversial decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the US embassy there.

Friday's deal with Israel was slammed by the Palestinians as another betrayal by an Arab state, further undermining their efforts to achieve self-determination and leaving them isolated under a new framework to regional "peace" dictated by Trump's administration that also views Iran as malice.

"There is no doubt that this represents a grave blow to the Palestinians - and a bleak sense that their cause is no longer a priority for Arab regimes," Black said.

The Palestinian leadership wants an independent state based on the de facto borders before the 1967 war, in which Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and annexed East Jerusalem. Arab countries have long called for Israel's withdrawal from already illegally occupied land, a just solution for Palestinian refugees and a settlement that leads to the establishment of a viable, independent Palestinian state in exchange for establishing ties with it.


Bahrain follows UAE to normalise ties with Israel (2:25)

'Saudi influence'
Even though regional heavyweight and Iran's archenemy Saudi Arabia has so far signalled it is not ready to take the same step itself, analysts say the recent deals would not have happened without its support.

Bahrain's political agenda is "pretty much dictated by Saudi Arabia", according to Marwa Fatafta, a policy member with the Palestinian policy network Al-Shabaka.

In late 2018, just months before Manama agreed to host a US-led conference to unveil the economic part of Trump's so-called Middle East plan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait pledged $10bn in financial support for Bahrain to steady its finances.

Besides being "financially dependent on its neighbours", Bahrain's new alliance with Israel may help it entrench its power and "crush any resistance to authoritarianism or efforts towards freedom and democracy", Fatafta said.

In 2011, during the onset of the Arab Spring uprisings, Saudi Arabia sent troops to Bahrain to suppress anti-government protests. Many of those who rallied against the Bahraini monarch were from the country's majority Shia population who have long complained of repression.

So, joining the bandwagon led by the US may also provide the Bahraini monarchy "continued protection against its own people", said Mouin Rabbani, co-editor of the Jadaliyya publication.

In normalising ties with Israel, Bahrain is ensuring it has gained an ally that is "equally committed to maintaining the status quo and preventing the success of any popular uprisings", he said.

On Sunday, Bahrain's top Shia leader Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim, who lives abroad, rejected the recent normalisation deals with Israel and urged people in the region to resist.

Bahrain is the Gulf monarchy "most at odds with its own people", argued Rabbani.

'Common geopolitical interests'
Strengthening the status quo also means singling out other main players in the region, such as Shia clerical state Iran, and even Turkey, according to analysts.

"The US and Israel have launched a comprehensive campaign to remove the question of Palestine from not only the international but also regional agenda, and to replace the Arab-Israeli conflict with an Arab-Iranian conflict," Rabbani said.


US elections: Biden promises to reverse many of Trump's changes (3:43)
At a time of regional upheaval, these Gulf states are driven by a desire to "solidify their relations with Washington", he added.

Black said Bahrain cares more about "pleasing Washington", but also noted that mutual hostility towards Iran is a key part of the emerging alliances.

Fatafta also believes that the teaming up comes with "common geopolitical interests".

"They found in Israel a strong ally against their number one enemy: Iran," she said.

For some of these states, the Iranian "threat" has grown in recent years, perhaps too quickly in neighbouring Yemen, as well as in Syria and Lebanon - which border Israel.

In Yemen, Saudi Arabia remains deadlocked in a war waging since March 2015 against the Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels, while in Syria, the proxies of the Shia Lebanese group Hezbollah fight in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government - a staunch ally of Iran.

Saudi Arabia, which said earlier this month it would allow all flights between the UAE and Israel to cross its airspace, continues to be the key in determining which countries could follow in the footsteps of Bahrain and the UAE.

"One needs to distinguish between different Gulf states," Black said. "Qatar and Kuwait are unlikely to follow the Emirati example. The key is Saudi Arabia which has reiterated its commitment to the Arab Peace Initiative" he added, referring to the 2002 plan that laid out Arab countries' conditions for normalising ties with Israel.

"But that position may change in the future," Black said.


'We reject this conspiracy': Israelis and Palestinians react to UAE deal (1:41)
Reclaiming PLO
A signing ceremony for the deals between Israel and Bahrain and the UAE, which will normalise diplomatic, commercial, security and other relations, is expected to be held in Washington, DC on Tuesday.

"Opening direct dialogue and ties between these two dynamic societies and advanced economies will continue the positive transformation of the Middle East and increase stability, security, and prosperity in the region," a joint statement by the US, Bahrain and Israel said last week.

Now, it seems unlikely that long-stalled negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian leadership would resume under the framework of the US-broked Oslo Accords, signed in the 1990s between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

While Oslo did little to help Palestinians, Israel has moved to further entrench its control over the occupied Palestinian territories, with Washington's backing. Earlier this year, Trump's so-called Middle East plan greenlighted the Israeli annexation of large swaths of the occupied West Bank including illegal settlements and the Jordan Valley, giving Israel a permanent eastern border along the Jordan River.

"If a viable two-state solution is no longer on the regional and international agenda, then there is no other workable solution for ending the occupation," Black said.

Fatafta concurred that the diplomacy track taken since Oslo by Palestinian leaders has failed and said Palestinians must "reclaim the PLO" if they wish to achieve self-determination.

Rabbani also said no change will come about unless there is a "comprehensive restructuring and rebuilding of the national movement on the basis of a thorough disengagement from the structures and relationships developed on the basis of the Oslo agreements".

"It's a tall order, not impossible, but will never happen until the current leadership passes or is forced from the scene."

What's behind the agreement between UAE and Israel?

NEWSFEED

What's behind the agreement between UAE and Israel?

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS
 

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