EastMedMonitor

Near East & Eastern Meditteranean hostage to Geography & History ▪️News ▪️Opinion ▪️geopolitics ▪️security ▪️conflict ▪️business ▪️culture .RT’s not endorsement

[EastMedMonitor @EastMedMonitor]

Turkey’s aggression in the Eastern Mediterranean is the ultimate credibility test for the EU.

Europe often acts like a confused geopolitical player — but it is still a global political and economic superpower.

A single third country is now openly threatening the sovereignty of two EU member states.which is EU sovereignty!
This what it’s illegal “Blue Homeland” maps,to become domestic law,aim at …

If the EU cannot respond with devastating sanctions against Turkey — its entire economy, assets in Europe, airlines, and every ship flying its flag — then what is the point of the European Union even existing?

Article 42.7 of the EU Treaty is crystal clear: it demands compulsory mutual defense assistance when a member is threatened or attacked.

No negotiations. No more speeches.Just a serious warning ⚠️

Day 1: Total sanctions on all Turkish economic interests and assets in Europe, including its air carriers.

Day 2: A formal warning and immediate mobilization for joint European military action until the threat is completely removed.Quick enforcement of a common sense operational playbook

This is what real deterrence looks like — not the usual empty talk from “business partners.”

The EU must choose: prove it’s a serious power… or admit it’s just a trade club.
#EU #EasternMediterranean #Turkey #Article427 #EuropeanDefense

[Ictinus ®️ @ictinus_x]

🇪🇺 Turkey’s illegal maritime claims are not merely a dispute over boundaries. They represent a broader challenge to EU sovereignty, international law, regional stability, and the credibility of Europe’s collective security framework.

The Eastern Mediterranean may ultimately test the credibility of the European Union itself.
🧵

[EastMedMonitor @EastMedMonitor]

Ambassador Barrack’s ‘strategic fulcrum’ of Iraq-Syria-Turkey, with himself as the single American ‘point of contact,’ is not neutral balancing — it is explicit alignment with Turkey’s policy of dominance over the region.”

Syria has become a Turkish proxy state whose fragile ‘stability’ rests on a single strongman in Ankara’s pocket, while ISIS roams the countryside unmolested. Iraq is a failed state where Sunnis and Shiites alike are dominated by Iran, with only superficial relations left with the United States.

Pretending these realities can be ‘woven into one tapestry’ by elevating Turkish leverage is not statesmanship — it is surrender to Ankara’s vision of neo-Ottoman control.

This policy directly destroys the aspirations of the Kurds — America’s only consistently loyal ally on the ground who actually fought and defeated ISIS — in order to appease Turkey. Why he feels the need to appease her?

Betraying the one force in the region that has reliably served U.S. interests is not ‘transcending sectarian differences.’ It is active sabotage of American leverage.

Worse, boosting Turkey’s dominance will inevitably lead to direct conflict with Israel — the only power in the region that publicly refuses to accept Turkish rule over the Levant and Mesopotamia and it is not the only one.

History shows great-power games that sacrifice reliable allies for authoritarian strongmen never deliver stability. They only deliver wider war.

America’s interests are not served by turning USA diplomacy into an extension of Erdogan’s expansionism. True leverage requires backing trusted real partners, not airbrushing away ethnic realities to hand the region to Ankara on a silver platter.

🔥The “conspiracy theory” that Turkey is the new Iran, would become a reality with American (some Americans) assistance .

Does it make geopolitical sense? The outrageous fact for Trump is that Turkey has not stood by USA in the Iran War and he insists through his envoy to benefit Erdogan !

If USA decided to “outsource” its imperial power it must be careful in selecting its partners and create reliable stable alliances. #think

[Ambassador Tom Barrack @USAMBTurkiye]

In the tradition of those who have long studied the Levant and Anatolia — Iraq, Syria, and Turkey remain the strategic fulcrum upon which any enduring Middle East stability must pivot. Balancing these three nations requires a single, consistent point of American contact and leverage — transcending tribal, religious, or sectarian differences. This vital mission, embraced by President Trump, seeks to aid the region in aligning itself toward shared prosperity by weaving its disparate threads into one coherent tapestry of order and mutual interest.

[Elî Rojava ✪ @Eli_Rojava]

Deir ez-Zor today ISIS movements and death threats

Nothing has changed all Arab tribes in Deir ez-Zor are affiliated with ISIS

ISIS has already formed its ranks and is now being organized
Trump & Al-Qaeda leader Jolani are working excellently to spread terrorism.

#Syria #ISIS

[Andreas Demetriou @Europhil2000]

🚨 Turkish Navy aircraft TURNA73 was again operating in the Eastern Mediterranean today.

Turkey continues to refuse to recognize the Republic of Cyprus’ authority over the Nicosia FIR, with military aircraft frequently operating without filing flight plans with the internationally recognized air traffic authorities responsible for the region.

No other EU member state is expected to tolerate such a situation.

Respect for international aviation rules cannot be selective.

🇨🇾 🇪🇺

#Cyprus #Turkey #NicosiaFIR #EasternMediterranean #EU #Aviation

[Elk 🇬🇷🇨🇾 @Schopenhaueress]

Historical facts, simple and clear:
Cyprus had an advanced civilization 9,500 years before the Ottoman Empire even existed.
The Ottomans conquered the island in 1571.
The British took control of Cyprus from the Ottomans in 1878 and formally annexed it in 1914.
Cypriots fought for a unification with Greece - hence freedom - through the EOKA struggle and forced the British to leave.
Cyprus became an independent Republic in 1960. It is a sovereign, internationally recognized state and a full member of the European Union.
The Ottoman Empire was founded in the 13th century and collapsed in the early 20th century.
In which part of Cyprus’s 11,000-year history was it ever “Ottoman property”?
The Ottomans showed up thousands of years too late and left for good over six decades ago until Turkey invaded in 1974 and still illegaly occupies part of Cyprus!

[Seth Frantzman @sfrantzman]

Two weeks before the major defense expo Eurosatory, France has informed Israel's Ministry of Defense of its decision to prohibit the official participation of the State of Israel in the exhibition, which will be held later this month in Paris. It would appear that despite the ban on Israeli official participation, and other provisions of the ban, that Israeli companies may still have their own displays with some parameters.

France had begun these types of bans back in 2024 during the Gaza war. Yet, in 2026, there is a ceasefire in Gaza and its notable that France waited until two weeks before this event, knowing that Israeli companies had already made plans, likely got tickets for delegations and designed exhibitions, to announce this. Paris could have done this months ago. It appears that the goal is to wait until right before the event to do this, to create as many problems as possible and make any court decision hard to come by and enforce, creating a crisis and uncertainty.

France knows that Israeli defense companies have been very successful in Europe, and there are a lot of new inroads.

Israel's Ministry of Defense says that it will not be able to participate in the exhibition and will not be able to set up a national pavilion there.

The Ministry also noted that "the French decision includes: a ban on government representatives participating in the exhibition, a ban on opening an Israeli national pavilion, and a ban on Israeli defense industries displaying offensive weapons, but only air defense products. This is unequal compared to other industries in the world and contrary to accepted norms at international exhibitions."

The ministry has called this a shameful decision that "reeks heavily of political and commercial considerations, and unfortunately, is not surprising. The decision is disturbingly consistent with a consistent trend in French behavior in recent years, which has repeatedly placed France on the wrong side of history."

[Nervana Mahmoud @Nervana_1]

Pier Morgan @piersmorgan is losing his marbles because Cenk
is banned from UK

Let me be clear, Cenk Uyghur is worse than all the right -wing advocates banned from UK before.

He is feeding paranoia and victimhood to Muslims.

Clearly Pier has no problem with that but as a British Muslim I have.

Enough hatred
Enough feeding victimhood
Enough obsession with Israel

Btw, Cenk does not debate, he only scream and interrupt

[Visegrád 24 @visegrad24]

American friends of Kurdistan founder Diliman Abdulkader:

“Turkey is one of the largest supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in the ME and Europe. They have ties to Islamists across the U.S…"

[EastMedMonitor @EastMedMonitor]

An interesting X post (in Turkish) by Ceng Sagnic (@cngsgnc), a geopolitical analyst and US Director of the @jerusalemcenter ,is a sharp defense that U.S. foreign policy is coherent under the current Trump administration. It directly pushes back against recent criticisms and conspiracy-tinged interpretations of Tom Barrack’s role.

Barrack has been accused as too close to Ankara and Damascus — essentially running a “joint agenda” that favors Turkish influence or Syrian strongmen over traditional U.S. allies.
Sagnic’s post rejects that entirely. It argues the arrow of influence points from Washington outward: Turkey and Syria are the ones adjusting to U.S. demands, not the reverse.

➖He argues that Barrack isn’t freelancing or “going native” — he’s faithfully executing a clear Trump doctrine.

💥What this means for U.S. “policy”?
The post portrays current U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East as:
1. Coercive/compellent, not alliance-based — “Compellence” (forcing compliance via leverage, threats, or incentives) .Turkey and the new Syrian government remain “at risk” if they deviate.
2. Prioritizes central, strong governments over fragmentation or democracy experiments — Washington wants unified, controllable states (single-party or strongman-led) in Syria and the region.
3. Driven by U.S. domestic/strategic interests, not regional lobbying —it’s America First realism. Barrack is the high-level executor, not the designer.
4. Transactional and flexible — but inherently risky for partners — Turkey and Syria “read the doctrine correctly” and are aligning for now (e.g., on Syria stabilization). But the doctrine explicitly rejects long-term loyalty.
Today’s partner can become tomorrow’s pressure target.

In short, the post is telling critics (and the Turkish audience): Stop seeing Barrack’s diplomacy as a conspiracy or Turkish/Syrian capture of U.S. policy. It’s the opposite — a disciplined, top-down U.S. strategy that compels regional actors to conform to Washington’s preferences for strong central authority, executed through a trusted Trump insider.

The illusion that U.S. remains firmly in the driver’s seat, but on its own terms, with no permanent friends. This is classic Trump-era transactional realism applied to the post-Assad Middle East.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

BUT do the facts on the ground agree ?

➖All this argument would have a logic IF Turkey did not have a free ride attacking/threatening Israel ,partnering with Iran and sponsoring Islamist terrorist orgs,(Islamism is enemy of Trump,no?),not mentioning its provocative aggression towards allies of USA like Greece & Cyprus

🔥THE REALITY ?

If Sagnic is right,Trump’s White House follows a policy in the region based on FANTASY or misinformation or absolutely CONFUSED or corrupted minds,not reality and facts on the ground and it is very dangerous.
Who will be Trump’s trusted allies ?
The money spenders of the Gulf?
The Jihadists of Syria based on a single strong leader or a strong Shiite govt of Iraq ?

By destroying the Kurds’ aspirations for freedom HOW it serves American interests?

The only interests such policy serves is the aspirations of Turkey to control the region by proxies or military dominance .
In short a new Iran more dangerous than the mullahs will be created.
What Turkey has done to serve American interests to deserve such a GIFT ?
It kills any trust by USA allies.

Who are the allies to depend on ?Transactional leaders for a few years ?
Fear of Trump’s wrath or mood does not create loyalty or stability in the Middle East

[Ceng Sagnic @cngsgnc]

Tom Barrack’ın Türkiye ya da Suriye ile ortak bir siyasi ajanda yürüttüğünü düşünenler ABD dış siyasetini anlamadıklarının farkında değiller. Politik gündemi takip eden sıradan insanlar açısından bu bir sorun olarak sayılmayabilir ama bunun ötesinde entelektüel ya da siyasi iddia ve konumları olanların böyle düşünmeleri korkutucu.

Washington ile uyumlu siyaset izleyenler Ankara ve Şam, tersi değil. ABD’nin genel dış politikası merkezi yönetimleri ve tek parti iktidarlarını öncelemekte ve bunun sebepleri okyanusun ötesinde, Ortadoğu’da değil. Barrack, bu siyasetin güçlü yürütücülerinden biri, mimarı değil.

Trump dış politika doktrini mecbur edicilik ilkesi üzerine kurulu. Ankara ve Şam dış politika tecrübeleri ışığında bunu doğru okuyabiliyor ve konumlanabiliyorlar. Ama bu doktrinin bir başka özelliği ise ABD’nin yirminci yüz yıl siyasetindeki uzun süreli ittifaklar prensibini rafa kaldırmış olmasıdır. Bu da herkes risk altında demektir, Ankara ve Şam dahil.

[Gatestone Institute @GatestoneInst]

For years, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has claimed, "Jerusalem is ours." Just a year ago, he called for Israel's destruction. In 2024, he threatened to invade Israel. If Turkey wants stability, why is it providing support and political legitimacy to an organization whose charter calls for Israel's destruction? https://t.co/qUXZO5CP3b

[Jack Prandelli @jackprandelli]

Azerbaijan Gas Just Got More Strategic 🇦🇿🔥

SOCAR, TotalEnergies, ADNOC, and Turkey’s BOTAS signed a gas sales agreement for Absheron Phase 2.

FID is expected this year.

Production is expected to start in 2029 and rise above 4 bcm per year.

Around half of that gas is expected to go to Turkey.

That matters.

Azerbaijan is becoming a bigger regional gas hub.
Turkey is locking in supply.
Europe gets another non-Russian gas corridor.
And ADNOC is expanding deeper into international gas.

The message is clear:

Secure gas molecules are being contracted years before they arrive.

[Human Events @HumanEvents]

.@mboyle1 gives @JackPosobiec more history on Serbia:

"This is a country trying to join the European Union. Brussels has not allowed them in for a variety of reasons. Trump got closer than anyone back in his first term."

[Avi Kaner ابراهيم אבי @AviKaner]

Saudi Arabia's statement on Lebanon includes this anti-Hezbollah message: "extending the Lebanese state’s authority over all its territory, and compliance with the decisions of the Lebanese government to restrict arms exclusively to the state and its legitimate institutions."

[ANCA @ANCA_DC]

Recall @TomBarrack NOW.

Erdogan's man in Washington.

#FireBarrack #RecallTomBarrack

[Ed Finley–Richardson @ed_fin]

There is only one king 👑

[Harry Theocharous @TheocharousH]

SELECTIVE OUTRAGE ALERT🚨

The Republic of Cyprus, an EU & UN member state, is being blocked by Turkey from participating at COP31.
No outrage from activists or TV hosts like @piersmorgan.

Yet when Hasan Piker & Cenk Uygur get denied UK entry, Piers and others suddenly scream authoritarianism and free speech crisis.

Cyprus has been occupied and sidelined for decades with barely a shrug, while certain voices trigger instant meltdowns.

It would be refreshing to see real consistency on sovereignty and free speech.
@hasanthehun @murat_kurum

[Hanin Ghaddar @haningdr]

According to the official statement by the Lebanese presidency and embassy in DC, Hezbollah will halt attacks on Israel and commit to ceasefire - and Israel, in return, won’t hit Beirut. It’s NOT a total ceasefire.
➡️ Lebanon just gained some time to do the right thing and save Beirut before things change.
➡️ Beirut is now safe enough to constitute a pilot zone for disarmament. Deploy the LAF and start confiscating Hezbollah’s drones and missiles.
➡️ This would work as a confidence building measure AND a last chance to save Beirut from a potential attack by Israel if this agreement fails.
➡️ If we continue without a visible disarmament action, we’d be eventually surrendering Beirut to Israel.
SAVE BEIRUT; SAVE LEBANON; DISARM HEZBOLLAH.

[Elke Götze @Pucemargine]

Trump tells Erdoğan he plans to attend NATO summit in Ankara: report https://t.co/sfv94ZpNV2
via @TurkishMinuteTM

[EastMedMonitor @EastMedMonitor]

Turkey’s aggression in the Eastern Mediterranean is the ultimate credibility test for the EU.

Europe often acts like a confused geopolitical player — but it is still a global political and economic superpower.

A single third country is now openly threatening the sovereignty of two EU member states.which is EU sovereignty!
This what it’s illegal “Blue Homeland” maps,to become domestic law,aim at …

If the EU cannot respond with devastating sanctions against Turkey — its entire economy, assets in Europe, airlines, and every ship flying its flag — then what is the point of the European Union even existing?

Article 42.7 of the EU Treaty is crystal clear: it demands compulsory mutual defense assistance when a member is threatened or attacked.

No negotiations. No more speeches.Just a serious warning ⚠️

Day 1: Total sanctions on all Turkish economic interests and assets in Europe, including its air carriers.

Day 2: A formal warning and immediate mobilization for joint European military action until the threat is completely removed.Quick enforcement of a common sense operational playbook

This is what real deterrence looks like — not the usual empty talk from “business partners.”

The EU must choose: prove it’s a serious power… or admit it’s just a trade club.
#EU #EasternMediterranean #Turkey #Article427 #EuropeanDefense

[EastMedMonitor @EastMedMonitor]

🚀 WHY , Israel’s economy is BOOMING — despite years of wars, terror, and endless conflict?

Here’s the secret most people miss:
Israel doesn’t just survive wars. It turns pressure into economic fuel.
✅ Startup Nation on steroids — highest number of startups per capita on Earth
✅ #1 in the world for R&D spending (5%+ of GDP — double the OECD average)
✅ Tech + defense synergy — elite IDF units (8200, Talpiot) spin out world-changing companies in cyber, AI, drones, and biotech
✅ Resilient culture — mandatory service + Jewish history of overcoming impossible odds = unmatched grit and ingenuity
✅ Diversified & global — natural gas exports, diamond trade, fintech, agritech, and massive VC inflows that barely blink during conflicts

Wars hit tourism and some sectors hard… but the high-tech engine keeps accelerating.

The proof?
See the table attached .IMF projection
🇮🇱Israel’s GDP per capita is approaching $70,000 ($69,804 IMF 2026 projection) — higher than major European economies!

While others predict collapse, Israel keeps delivering growth, innovation, and breakthroughs that the entire world uses every single day.

That’s not luck. That’s a special Israeli DNA. 💪🇮🇱
#Israel #StartupNation #InnovationUnderFire

[Marios Karatzias @MariosKaratzias]

The full moon rises behind the ancient Greek Temple of Poseidon at cape Sounion, south of Athens #Greece

📸 Aris Messinis via @AFP