The presentation of Alidost Numan, representative of the Turkish Greens, at the online event of the Greens of Greece, «Pax Nostrum: Fossil Fuel Extraction and Rivalries vs. Green Prosperity and Peace in the East Med», Sat., December 12, 2020
Thank you friends for your invitation. I am honored and pleased to be here and to hear the thoughts of such a diverse panel on these pressing issues, as well as the opportunity to share my views. However, I would first like to congratulate the Greens of Greece on their Conference. Like you, the Greens of Turkey too have only recently reestablished our party, and we are very pleased of the ensuing dialogue we have developed over the past months, and hope it will help to build stronger green political movements across the region as well as act as a force for peace.
The issues at hand between Turkey and Greece, in the Aegean and in the East Mediterranean are rooted not in the Erdoğan government’s maximalist and aggressive policies; neither are they rooted just in Turkey trying forcing Cyprus to a weaker negotiating position. The issue should be read beyond real-politique of the day; at the crux of the matter is issue of nation states and disagreement over extent of national sovereignty. If it was not Erdoğan’s government in Turkey but a centre right or centre left one, we would most likely be having the same discussions, albeit in a less tensed context, but within the same paradigm. I am going to argue that, as greens, what we must propose are ways to overcome this nation-state sovereignty where we can, and resolve differences constructively where we can’t.
The context of the matter is our common sea, which we have travelled and exchanged and mixed on for millenia since before there was even writing; it has sustained us, but it also lives and is sadly a dying biosphere in its own right. It is our commons and it is a living eco-system, the rights of which we should start to discuss sooner rather than later. Greater areas of the sea should be designated as protected reserves, and the responsibility for these be common rather than national. The Barcelona Convention is a good starting point in finding legal avenues in the governing of the commons through collective responsibility. Rather than extensive EEZs and competing claims of continental shelf rights, we should define as great an area of our sea as possible,as global commons. We should do this more explicitly; the exact mechanism of governenece of such waters should be worked out between EU and other Mediterranean countries through a joint and coordinated framework, which may hopefully in the long term help the withering of nation-state sovereignty and rise of more universal forms, perhaps modeled on EU treaties. Such a proposal is bold, and may seem even utopic at this point, but it is, if nothing else, a bold stance for peace not between but building up towards beyond nation states, behind which greens hopefully would unite.
For Turkey and Greece, the perspective of resolving the continental shelf and marine delimitation can of course not wait that long. While defending broader solutions, we can also encourage steps within the current political framework to establishh peace. In line with the recent EU Council decisions too, the first step must be the decrease of tension – and yes, the responsibility falls on Turkey here: escalating activity and rhetoric has to be shelved. The demilitarisation of islands and the Aegean coast, in line with agreements already in effect, as well as suspension of military exercises may be a next step.
The now seemingly distant late 1990s and early 2000s were extremely sane in terms of steps to resolve maratime issues, and a similar road map of negotiations, with a time table, leading ultimately to resolving of remaining issues at an aggreed upon seat of mediation such as the ICJ, in according to international law would be the best way to proceed. Military officers should be kept away from the negotiation table and the negotiations being conducted by civilian jurists in order for them to bare fruit. Also important is that the FIR zones should also be alligned with maritime borders and resolved, ending silly occasions for tension. Ultimately, in a peaceful future where the Cyprus issue and maratime disagreements have been resolved and Turkey has successfully reformed itself and gained EU membership, the details of national boundaries and maratime delimitations will be academic. And the good life divident peace will bring to all individuals and communities in the region will far outweigh the great interest of any nation-state, whatever it may claim it to be.
However, to come back to more immediate matters at hand. Regarding th latest Council decision. My personal view is that it was a sane decision to adopt the reward vs penalisation aproach and to keep calm heads. Turkey is running a growing deficit, over 40% of its exports – the more high quality and reliable 40% – and over 60% of foreign direct investment is from EU countries. The country’s central bank has a net negative 51 billion dollar reserve. It needs the EU, and even Erdoğan’s government has come to realise this. The important thing now is to bring it into the fold of institutional, multilateral, liberal international relations, and to allow this to be achievable through diplomacy and without hurting its honour with words such as “carrot and stick”.
While a coordination between the upcoming US administration and the EU is welcome in this regard, what I notice to be problematic is the increasing securitizing of language regarding Turkey. The relationship between Turkey and Europe, not to even mention that between Turkey and Greece, are deeply rooted institutionally, culturally, diplomatically. To reduce these down to matters of security and economics is caricaturising and harming a deeply rooted relationship, hopefully one with a long and strong future, and we should be cognisant of this dimension in our aproach.
Lastly, to briefly address the hydrocarbons issue. As the 2018 IPCC 1.5°C report clearly states, we have 12 years of fossil fuels to burn at the current rate and counting down, if we are to have a reasonable chance of reaching this safe target. This rate of fossil dependence is unsustainable, no matter what the source. Burning the gas found around Cyprus so far will amount to nearly 1Gt of extra emissions. Whatever the legal context, supporting gas exploration off Cyprus means supporting burning an extra 1/50 of the total allowable carbon budget for the EU. A factor of ten more, if we count Egypt and Israel’s proven reserves!
With this in mind, the Greens of Turkey insistantly call on our Green friends all over the EU to oppose drilling in the Mediterranean. Supporting the rights of Cyprus to exploit natural gas may be standing up for a member state, but it is in direct contrast to standing up for the rights of the climate, for intergenerational justice, or for making Europe the vanguard of a just climate transition.
As the Greens of Turkey, we support:
- Turkey to cease its escalating tensions through gas exploration and drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean, and to stop the dangerous game of using this to strengthen its hand in negotiations. For it to stop using standing up for the rights of Turkish Cypriots as an excuse to further its own ambitions.
- Cyprus to stop having pipedreams of gas wealth, which may never materialise due to exorbitant costs and even if it does will be at huge detriment to the global climate and threatening marine biology and tourism.
- European Union not to support fossil fuel ambitions of Cyprus and not to consider related enforcements against Turkey which will be understood as a support to Cyprus government’s gas exploration.
- The Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot leaders to return to the negotiation table in resolving the Cyprus problem within the framework of a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation, no framework outside of which is either feasible nor can bring lasting peace.
- For the UN General Secretary Mr. Guterres and for the EU High Representative Josep Borell to be assertive in facilitating the signing up to a lasting peace deal of all relevant sides, including Turkey.
We believe that only through lasting peace can prosperity, respect for international law, and the normalisation of EU-Turkey relations be achieved; not through standing behind drilling for more carbon, nor through escalating and maximalist demands on any side.
Alidost Numan,
Yeşiller Partisi – Green Party, Turkey
