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Over the last years geopolitics have raised the profile of Greece’s northern region of Thrace, with key ports like Alexandroupoli taking center stage. While key investments in the security and energy infrastructure of the region accelerate, Thrace still faces a unique set of challenges. One of these is demographics, with Thrace’s border villages facing shrinking and aging populations. Thrace...

12 λεπτά

Last week Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock traveled to Greece and Turkey, where she took a clear stance against Turkish revisionism in the region, stating in unequivocal terms that the sovereignty of Greece’s islands are not up for dispute. While in Turkey, she also made a point to raise issues related to human rights violations. These clear statements mark a shift in Berlin’s...

14 λεπτά

Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar issued a barrage of new and wild accusations against Greece recently, specifically targeting Greece’s efforts to modernize its military, which he said shows that Athens is allegedly “up to something” against Turkey. He also tried to once again raise questions about Greek sovereignty in the Aegean, and accused Greece of expansionism. General (ret.)...

11 λεπτά

How can Washington best balance security interests in Europe and the Middle East while still prioritizing the Indo-Pacific? Expert Aaron Stein, who joins me today on our podcast, makes the case in a recent piece for War on the Rocks that the answer might be found in deepening the military partnership with Greece, one of Washington’s most important regional allies, as well as the Republic of...

15 λεπτά

Earlier this week Turkey announced that its newest drill ship would set sail August 9th for a drilling operation “in the Mediterranean,” setting the stage for an escalation of tensions should the ship deploy to an area that falls within Greece or Cyprus’s EEZs. The announcement comes as Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also upped the ante with Athens again this week, issuing a barrage...

13 λεπτά

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in Greece Tuesday to seal a number of agreements on energy, military cooperation, and in other fields. The visit comes as Greece has forged closer diplomatic and economic ties with Saudi Arabia in recent years as it seeks to build alliances and partnerships in the wider region. This was Mohammed bin Salman’s first trip to an EU country since the...

15 λεπτά

Wildfires have swept across Greece, and major blazes have threatened protected national forests, homes, and livelihoods as authorities issued calls for evacuations. This is taking place amid a protracted heat wave that has pushed temperatures past 41 degrees Celsius in some places. Amidst these challenges in Greece, we also saw other parts of Europe face wildfires and record-breaking...

13 λεπτά

Russia and Ukraine signed separate agreements Friday with Turkey and the UN clearing the way for exporting millions of tons of desperately needed Ukrainian grain, ending a standoff that had threatened food security around the globe. During the signing ceremony, Turkey’s President Erdogan played up his role as a statesman and Turkey’s role in mediating the agreement. Despite this deal, however,...

13 λεπτά

The Nord Stream gas pipeline between Russia and the EU reopened this week, with deliveries slowly getting back to levels seen before the pipeline closed for maintenance earlier this month. This has allowed Europe to catch its breath, but the fear that Russia could use gas to blackmail Europe remains, and EU countries, including Greece, are preparing emergency measures should Russia decide to...

13 λεπτά

On Wednesday Turkey announced that its fourth drill ship, the Abdülhamid Han, will launch operations in the Eastern Mediterranean in August, raising the prospect of heightened tensions with Greece and Cyprus. In the meantime, Greece’s Defense Minister traveled to the United States this week, where he raised the issue of Turkey’s revisionism in the Aegean, and took important steps to bring...

10 λεπτά

While Cyprus has become a key US partner in the Eastern Mediterranean, there is still a partial arms embargo on Cyprus as US law currently prohibits providing Cyprus with US-made weaponry. The US only partially lifted the embargo a few years ago because of concerns over Cyprus’s links to Russia, which US lawmakers called on Cyprus to address. Cyprus has now fulfilled these requirements. Lifting...

12 λεπτά

This weekend North Macedonia’s parliament gave the government the green light to resolve a dispute with Bulgaria that paves the way for EU membership talks to begin. The deal would also unblock the start of negotiations for Albania, another EU hopeful. While this may lift Bulgaria’s veto over North Macedonia’s membership bid, there are still a number of hurdles before North Macedonia can join...

14 λεπτά

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is set to travel to Tehran on Tuesday, where he will meet with the leaders of Iran and Turkey to discuss Syria. Much is at stake in Putin’s meeting with Turkey’s Erdogan, with the two leaders set to discuss a range of issues, including Turkish threats to launch a new military incursion in Syria. Putin is also looking to strengthen Russia’s relationship with...

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Today we’re taking you to the US House of Representatives, where the House Rules Committee voted on Tuesday to include an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would prohibit the sale of F-16s or modernization kits to Turkey unless certain conditions are met. The amendment was debated in the House on Wednesday night, with a vote expected on Thursday. This marks an important...

13 λεπτά

EU leaders are bracing for a gas supply crunch that could freeze whole sectors of the bloc's economy as fears grow that Russia could pull the plug on supply and shut down the Nord Stream pipeline for good. If Russia does decide to pull the plug on supply, Europe, including Greece, will need to prepare for a challenging winter. This could also prove a test for the West’s resolve against Russia,...

10 λεπτά

Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the ultra-nationalist MHP in Turkey and Erdogan’s junior coalition partner, recently presented a map of the Aegean that showed many Greek islands as Turkish, including Crete. The image prompted reactions from Greece’s foreign ministry and from Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who tweeted the image and called on Turkish President Erdogan to clarify whether this...

10 λεπτά

Most journalists, analysts, and even politicians themselves seem to have concluded that Greece will head to early elections this fall. This week, Prime Minister Mitsotakis moved to dismiss these rumors, saying that he is prepared to assume the cost of resisting pressure for snap polls for the sake of stability, and added that he plans to see his government through its four-year term. In the...

12 λεπτά

Since the late 1960s there has been agreement among successive US administrations that Israel should have a qualitative military edge for the sake of regional peace and security. Now, as the Biden administration throws its support behind the sale of F-16 fighter jets to an increasingly revisionist and aggressive Turkey, is it time to apply this example to the Eastern Mediterranean? Expert...

13 λεπτά

As concerns grow across Europe over the possibility of a complete disruption of Russian gas flows, Greece is transforming itself into a gateway for alternative sources of energy to flow into Europe. Its northern region of Thrace, with cities like Alexandroupoli, is at the heart of this effort, particularly when it comes to enabling Balkan energy independence from Russian gas through key...

13 λεπτά

The US-Turkey relationship has been characterized by a steady attempt at “hostage diplomacy” on the part of Ankara, and its veto over Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership bids is the latest example. One devastating effect of this consistent use of “hostage diplomacy”, as HALC’s Executive Director Endy Zemenides argues in his latest piece in Kathimerini, is that the US government has developed...

15 λεπτά