Will This Blow Up NATO?

New in PJ Media:

Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey has long coveted the Greek Aegean islands in the disputed waters between the two countries, and now it has made its claim official.

The flagship newspaper of the Greek-American community, The National Herald, reported Wednesday that Turkey “has provoked Greece by submitting a map to UNESCO claiming parts of the Aegean Sea – which has been the primary point of contention and discussions between the countries during a period of calm.”

The UNESCO map was a manifestation of Erdogan’s “Blue Homeland” doctrine, which includes Turkey’s claims to sovereignty over various lands that once belonged to the Ottoman Empire. Erdogan refuses to recognize the Treaty of Lausanne, which ceded the Aegean islands in question now to Greece, despite the fact that the Republic of Turkey duly ratified the treaty on Aug. 23, 1923, as well as the fact that Turkey and Greece are both members of NATO and thus are supposed to be allies.

Erdogan appears to be calculating that he will not get any pushback within NATO for claiming the internationally recognized sovereign territory of another member state, and he is likely right about that. This isn’t the first time he has claimed Greek territory, and almost certainly will not be the last, yet Turkey doesn’t seem to be in any danger of losing its NATO membership.

That should change. NATO member states have already had to take action to counter Turkish aggression against Greece. Turkish dissident Abdullah Bozkurt reported in Nordic Monitor on April 28, 2025 that “Turkey’s contingency war plans against Greece — particularly targeting Western Thrace and the Aegean islands — have suffered a serious setback due to the expanded military presence of the United States and France in support of Greek defense.” This Franco-U.S. action prompted “a wave of sharp criticism from Turkey’s increasingly frustrated leadership, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in recent years.”

Turkey’s “military strategy for a potential incursion into Greek territory, particularly Western Thrace, was designed to exploit a narrow window of opportunity, which Turkish generals anticipated would close quickly with swift intervention from the US and Europe following any Turkish offensive.

With tensions thus running high, Greece’s response to Turkey’s UNESCO map was carefully muted. Greek officials pointed out that the map had no legal force, but noted that they were “monitoring” Turkey’s actions. Greek government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis charged Turkey with trying “to exploit, to appropriate areas that do not belong to it, and this is obvious and against international law and reality itself.”

There is more. Read the rest here.