I Am Embarrassed To Be An EU Member!

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is the international agreement that resulted from the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III), which took place between 1973 and 1982. The convention has been ratified by 168 parties. An additional 14 UN member states have signed, but not ratified the convention.

There are 15 United Nations member and observer states which have neither signed nor acceded either the Convention or the Agreements. Turkey is one of them.

Greece has 182 UN member states on its side. Turkey is one of 15 which abstained from being party to the agreement. Thus, Turkey has the legitimate right to define its own position of what their territorial rights in the Mediterranean are. The only question is one of legitimacy: when 182 UN member states declare something as law, is that equivalent to 15 member states ignoring that law? When 182 UN member define something as law, is it defensible that one non-signatory defies that law outright?

There can only be a political solution to this. In the meantime, however, every EU member state should ask itself the question whether an attack on Greece is 'only' an attack on an individual sovereign country (which it is) but whether it is not also an attack on the union which that sovereign country belongs to. In my opinion, the EU cannot assume a mediator's role in a conflict where the EU itself is being attacked. 

The deafening silence of the EU in this matter is beyond comprehension. Notwithstanding all the economic interests of major EU countries in Turkey and the respective dependencies, Turkey is a country which has violated in the extreme many of those values which the EU considers as their core values. And, most importantly, in the refugee situation, Turkey has essentially blackmailed the EU and gotten away with it so far.

Given the fact that Turkey, from the EU's standpoint, should actually be considered more as an adversary than as a partner, I found it quite amazing what a beautiful birthday party the EU ambassadors presented to the Turkish foreign minister. 

Would they have offered the same admiration to Putin after he took over the Crimean?

But the real affront was an interview by CNN with Jens Stoltenberg, the General Secretary of NATO. The reporter's question was very simple: "The Greek Prime Minister accused Turkey of violating Greek air space. How does NATO react to that?" Stoltenberg refused to answer this question. The CNN reporter asked whether there were possibly 2 standards: one when Russia violates Turkish air space for less than 30 seconds and the other when Turkey violates Greek air space for months on end?

It is truly embarrassing how Stoltenberg ducks the question and seemingly justifies Turkey's actions without considering the position of Greece, a co-equal NATO member. Regarding the EU: it is commendable that individual countries like France or Austria have taken a clear position to be on the side of their fellow EU member state Greece but the deafening silence on the part of countries like Germany and of the EU itself is absolutely embarrassing. 

As an Austrian, I am very embarrassed to be a member of this EU!