At the same time, the current High Representative of the European Union and Commission vice-president, Josep Borrell, commenced an official two-day visit to Turkey on Monday — with Ankara’s continuing provocations and sabre-rattling against EU members Greece and Cyprus high on the official’s talks with his Turkish hosts.
Official Turkey is now also involved in military conflicts in Syria, northern Iraq and, of late, in Libya, while ignoring any notion of international law governing maritime zones and boundaries – as seen by attempts at illegal hydrocarbon exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.
The latest high-profile threat by the Erdogan administration is to convert the Hagia Sophia back into a mosque, changing its current status as Turkey’s most visited museum and contravening its designation as an UNESCO World Heritage Monument.