Turkey sent drones to northern Cyprus on Monday morning as part of an attempt to increase Turkey’s role in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Turkey has a base in Qatar and Somalia and has hinted it will send troops to Libya. Turkey forced an Israeli research ship to leave waters near Cyprus last week according to reports. Ankara is increasingly trying to surround Cyprus with an exclusive economic zone that it claims and looks ready to use drones and naval assets to assert its control. Ankara also told Israel that any pipeline in the Mediterranean would require Turkey’s approval. Anadolu reported that Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones flew to northern Cyprus at 5am on Monday. Since earlier this year Turkey has been increasing its activities in the Mediterranean, seeking to send vessels to explore for gas between Cyprus and Greece and claiming that Turkey controls the rights to an economic zone stretching from Turkey to Libya. It signed a deal with Libya’s embattled government of Tripoli last month even though Libya is in a civil war and the Tripoli government doesn’t control the water off the coast line where Turkey says it has rights. Turkey has been saying every day over the last week it could send forces to Libya to support Tripoli against the western Libyan government of Khalifa Haftar who is backed by Egypt.
اقلاع أول طائرة تركية مسيرة إلى جمهورية شمال قبرص
أوضح مراسل الأناضول أن الطائرة التركية اقلعت في تمام الساعة 05.00 صباح الاثنين، باتجاه قاعدة “غجيت قلعة” في قبرص التركية.https://t.co/t5D84iZI1s pic.twitter.com/65r72NOOAP— ANADOLU AGENCY (AR) (@aa_arabic) December 16, 2019
Ankara’s larger plans are to stake claim to a huge swath of Mediterranean and carve it into economic blocks for drilling. The drones are a way to assert Turkey’s power and to show that it will use military means if necessary to administer economic zones that surround Cyprus on three sides. Turkish Petroleum-linked vessels are seeking gas to put facts on the ground in the dispute. In June the vessel Yavuz went to the east Mediterranean off the coast of Cyprus to drill in the Bay of Gazimagusa which Turkey says the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus has rights to. Turkey’s Fatih ship was already working in the area. “The Greek Cypriot administration does not have a right to take decisions on its ow or even have a say in any matter concerning the whole island,” Turkey’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez said at the time. The Fatih ship began operations 75 km off the western coast of Cyprus. Turkey claims this area “falls entirely within Turkish continental shelf-registered with the UN under permit licenses, the Turkish government in previous years granted to Turkish Petroleum Corporation.” Maps published online by Turkish media show that Turkey has divided land areas in the Iskenderun basin, Mersin basin and Antalya basin off the coast of Turkey into more than 20 plots with numbers such as 4320, 5027. Northern Cyprus, which is not recognized by other countries besides Turkey, was invaded by Turkey in the 1970s. Now Turkey wants to leverage its claims to mark out other areas that Turkish companies could conceivably drill. Around Northern Cyprus Turkish media shows various economic blocks labelled sequentially from A to G. The E, F and G blocks are off the coast of Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Turkey calls this area the “blue motherland” or “blue homeland.” From Ankara’s point of view it is Cyprus that has been going ahead with drilling without consulting it. In early 2018 Turkey condemned “Greek Cypriots” for enabling ENI’s Saipem 12000 drilling platform to drill in an area labelled Block 3 by Cyprus. In response Turkey’s Navy conducted drills. Turkey bases its claims to an Exclusive Economic Zone on a 1982 UN convention that spells out maritime law and says countries can drill within 200 nautical miles of their coasts. Where the EEZs overlap the countries should come to an agreement. For instance Cyprus signed agreements with Egypt in 2003, Lebanon in 2007 and 2010 with Israel. Israel and Lebanon have small overlapping claims, which the US had sought to mediate in the past. Turkey’s claims are not just overlapping with Cyprus, Turkey is pushing a much wider agenda. According to Turkish media reports Turkey wants Turkish Petroleum to have licenses all the way around the eastern coast of Cyprus between Cyprus and Israel and that Turkey will claim the western side, surrounding Cyprus with claims. Block 3, that Turkey complained about in 2018 overlaps the northern Cyprus block F. But Turkey’s ambitions now are much larger than in 2018 when this dispute was more on paper than today when it involves navies, drones and more robust Turkish threats. Turkey’s disputes now impact the EU, NATO and concepts of an East Med pipeline. While Turkey pushes northern Cyprus claims to the eastern blocks between Cyprus and Lebanon and Israel and Syria, it also pushes up against blocks 4-7 that Cyprus claims east and south of Cyprus. According to Turkey’s Anadolu the government of Cyprus “unilaterally identified 13 oil exploration blocks around the island of Cyprus and granted permit licenses to oil companies such as Exxon, Nobel, Eni, Kogas and Qatar Petroleum.” Turkey’s response is that it “declares at every opportunity that Turkish Petroleum’s hydrocarbon activities within the TRNC’s license areas, as well as within Turkey’s continental shelf, will continue with seismic and drilling operations.” Turkey uses international legal claims where it benefits and discards them in other areas. Northern Cyprus is not recognized by the international community so it can’t grant licenses. On the other hand Turkey claims that the government in Tripoli is the internationally recognized government and uses it to further its claims. No matter, Turkey benefits in both scenarios, so that’s the goal. Turkey now says it will base drones in northern Cyprus and use them to escort ships searching for gas. According to Reuters the drones will be both unarmed and armed and be based at Gecitkale (Lefkoniko) airport. Now that the Bayraktar TB2 drones are in northern Cyprus it adds to the crowded skies of the area and potentially escalates disputes. For Turkey this is a great nationalist milestone as the country daily engages in threats to close the US base in Incirlik, and threatens more military offensives in Iraq, Syria and far away in Libya. Turkish media heralded the great drone deployment with real-time cameras attached to the tail of one of the drones. The drones were seen on flight radar sites and images posted online as well. By noon on Monday the drones were flying around their new base like horses enjoying a new pasture.
— DAILY SABAH (@DailySabah) December 16, 2019
The Bayraktar drone is a point of pride for Turkey. Turkey boasts it is the best-armed UAV in its class, and says it was first delivered to the army in 2014, with its armaments being increased in 2015. New versions are being constructed today. Turkey has put MAM-L and MAM-C long range anti-tank missiles from Rokestan on the drone and says it is now one of six countries making these kinds of armed drones. Turkey has signed a deal with Ukraine and sent drones to Libya. A Turkish drone was downed n Libya over the weekend. Ankara is increasingly using drones in northern Iraq and Syria. Turkey is gearing up for a potential naval confrontation with its drones and also by test firing a new locally produced anti-ship missile called Atmaca, it tested in November. The new Turkish base in Cyprus will give the drones, with a range of around 150 km, ability to monitor areas off the coast of Cyprus but will not likely bring them close to Israel, unless the drones are guided using another manner. Nevertheless the drones are a symbolic way for Turkey to show off its increasing power in the region and may pose an issue for Cyprus.
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