Ever since the attempted coup in Turkey of 2016, Ankara has become more assertive regarding its near abroad foreign policy. With the rise of the AKP in the early 2000s, the country’s foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu pursued the “zero problems with neighbors” policy. However, it resulted in nothing but trouble. The more recent “Blue Homeland” policy further increases pressure in the region due to Turkey’s confrontational and undiplomatic actions. Ankara, however, seems to realize the unsustainability of its current strategy as the country has carefully reached out to Cairo. On February 18, Egypt announced a new bid round for hydrocarbon exploration in its EEZ including a block 18 in disputed Turkish-Greek waters. This seemed to confirm Ankara’s position and raised Turkish hopes for a possible rapprochement . In response to the confusion, Greece’s foreign minister quickly flew to Cairo at the beginning of March to clarify the situation. This […]