Is Turkey-Egypt maritime agreement dead in the water?
Turkey's efforts to secure a demarcation agreement with Egypt in the eastern Mediterranean seem fruitless as Cairo remains indifferent to Ankara's signals.
Turkey is trying to pull Egypt to Ankara's side in the energy rivalry over the eastern Mediterranean by sending constructive signals to Cairo after Turkish “hard power” tactics in the region failed to bear fruit. Yet Turkey’s courtship seems remains unrequited as Egypt has yet to directly respond to Ankara’s advances.
Ankara’s foreign policy, which is based on the Blue Homeland doctrine calling for a more aggressive posture on maritime rights, envisages that Turkey should mend ties with Egypt and Israel to counter the Cyprus-Greece bloc’s territorial claims in the eastern Mediterranean. From Ankara’s vantage point, Egypt could secure a greater maritime jurisdiction area in the contested waters by reaching a maritime deal with Turkey and withdrawing from the deal it reached with Greece and Cyprus.
