This time, Türkiye stood tall in foreign policy. He did not compromise on the veto imposed by Greece and Cyprus last month to prevent us from receiving a share of the European Union’s 150 billion Euro Defense Fund SAFE program. Greece stated that it would lift the veto if Turkey gave up its decision to consider Türkiye’s attempt to increase its territorial waters in the Aegean to 12 miles as ‘Casus Belli – a reason for war’.
1 BILLION EUROS ALDI
The European Council waited for a “step back”, but Türkiye did not make concessions. Due to the Greek veto, Turkey could not participate in the EU’s SAFE program, which transfers loans for investments in air and missile defense, ammunition, UAVs and cyber security. The 150 billion Euro fund was shared without Türkiye. Southern Cyprus received 1 billion 181 million Euros, Greece 787 million Euros.
ATHENS’ ATTITUDE
The President of the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus, Nikos Hristodulidis, who attended the European Council meeting, said, “Our stance that Türkiye should not participate has been adopted.” Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis also said, “Türkiye cannot join SAFE unless Casus Belli lifts its decision. If it changes its attitude, we will discuss the issue, but I do not expect this in the near term.”
WHAT IS ‘CASUS BELLI’?
The ‘Casus Belli’ decision, which Greece wants to be abolished, dates back to 1995. With the Treaty of Lausanne, the territorial waters of the two countries in the Aegean were determined as 3 nautical miles, but Greece increased its territorial waters to 6 miles in 1936 and Türkiye in 1964. Turkey made a “cause of war” decision on June 8, 1995, called “Casus Belli” in Latin, by saying “We will consider this a reason for war” to Greece, which attempted a 12-mile 12-mile attempt in 1995.
The lion’s share goes to Denmark
The highest payments will be made to Denmark with 46 billion Euros and Poland with 43 billion Euros. Hungary, France and Romania will each receive 16 billion euros, Italy 14 billion euros and Belgium 8 billion euros.
