Greek-Turkish Ideational Antagonism and Exclusive Economic Zones : A Discourse Analysis of the EU Response to the Erdogan Regime Challenging UNCLOS in the Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract: This paper emphasizes a social constructivist theoretical viewpoint when looking to analyze the EEZ dispute in the Eastern Mediterranean between Turkey and Greece. The recent authoritarian shift taken by Turkey, moving away from EU and international law values under the regime of President Erdogan has caused an aggravation of the chronically present tensions with its EU neighbour and NATO ally. The growing chasm away from democracy internally reflected in the waters of the Eastern Mediterranean, especially in light of the recent gas discoveries and elections on both sides, destabilizing the region majorly. Through Discourse Analysis (DA), the EU response to these orally-inflamed Greek-Turkish tensions regarding their overlapping EEZ claims in this specific geopolitical context is examined, taking into account the ideational, identity, and normative factors that are largely at play. In this way, an exploration is made concluding that EU collective identity and its mechanisms are perceiving themselves as threatened, based on the extent and potency of their reaction in terms of political rhetoric and institutional documents delineating the parameters of its collective identity and shaping EU foreign policy so far toward Turkey’s EEZ denial in the Eastern Mediterranean, in the time frame January 2019- February 2023.