French President Emmanuel Macron is back on the stage with more of the outlandish claims we have come to expect. In a seeming attempt to make up for his failure to get the European Union to sanction Turkey, the Frenchman launched a fresh attack against Ankara. While German Chancellor Angela Merkel stresses the importance of interdependence and a constructive relationship, Macron continues to threaten Turkey with sanctions.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed Parliament on the occasion of the beginning of the new legislative year. He provided a summary of Turkey's international standing and foreign policy, and offered both criticism and fresh proposals to improve world politics and the situation in conflict zones.

The dangerous escalation in the Eastern Mediterranean has given way to dialogue and negotiations.

Since the emergence of the Eastern Mediterranean crisis, there have been a lot of debates and questions regarding the role of the major powers in the potential resolution of this dispute. After Turkey’s calls for dialogue and diplomacy fell on deaf ears in the early days of the crisis, many assumed that one of the major powers would play the role of mediator for this problem.

Western media’s opposition to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is possibly the world’s worst kept secret. Western commentators immediately jump to conclusions about the supposedly expansionist goals of Erdoğan’s Turkey whenever Ankara launches a fresh foreign policy initiative. Experts in Washington, Paris, Athens, Abu Dhabi and elsewhere make the same arguments in an attempt to contain Turkey’s influence to an unbearable extent. At the heart of those comments lies the claim that the Turkish president has isolated his country in the international arena, which will lead the nation to a disaster and that the Turkish people deserve better.

French President Emmanuel Macron has openly had Turkey in his crosshairs for quite some time.

For the last several weeks, French President Emmanuel Macron has been targeting Turkey and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in his statements about regional developments in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean. Although it is not uncommon for him to make such undiplomatic positions when it comes to foreign policy, his recent remarks about Turkey demonstrate that his tone is becoming more aggressive than it used to be.

Emmanuel Macron was welcomed by political leaders in Europe and the United States when he defeated his right-wing populist rival Marine Le Pen in the second round of the French presidential race in 2017.

For the last decade, the main concern of Turkish foreign policy has been the crises in the Middle East and North Africa, which include threats emanating from different terrorist groups and state failures as a result of Arab insurgencies. Ankara, however, has been spending its energy on its relations with Western countries, especially France and the United States, rather than on these crises. Nowadays, many observers both from inside and outside the nation have been trying to answer the question, “What does the West want from Turkey?” In this piece, I will try to trace the roots of Paris' approach toward Ankara.

The French president seems to forget that people in the region already know that France is not a regional power and indeed, has colonial fantasies.

'No one can question' deal, 'especially France' says Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay

Greece continues to escalate tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean amid calls from the European Union for dialogue. In addition to conducting military exercises, Athens deployed troops to the island of Kastellorizo (Megisti-Meis) and is preparing to conclude an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) agreement with the Greek Cypriots – similar to Athens' controversial deal with Egypt. Last but not least, Greek leaders fueled tensions last week by talking about extending their claims in the Ionian Sea to 12 nautical miles.

The recent tension and crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean are turning into a coordinated campaign to contain Turkey in an energy-rich strategic region. Turkey is the country with the longest shores in the Mediterranean and has been calling on international actors to negotiate a fair deal on the entire Eastern Mediterranean region based on mutual interests.

Turkey’s discovery of natural gas in the Black Sea looks to remain a hot topic for the foreseeable future.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on Friday that Turkey's drillship Fatih discovered 320 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas in the Black Sea. The largest discovery of natural gas in Turkey’s history, it is expected to be part of a broader reserve, marking the beginning of a new chapter for the country. It also represents a giant leap forward in its revolutionary attempt to end its dependence on foreign energy. The currently available natural gas reserve, which could meet Turkey’s energy demand for eight years, is priced at approximately $90 billion (TL 660 billion) based on current prices.

Tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean are escalating anew to dangerous levels. Turkey responded to a Greek-Egyptian maritime agreement, which undermined Germany’s mediation efforts, by dispatching the research vessel Oruç Reis, alongside frigates, to the Mediterranean Sea. The Greek military consequently went into high alert.

The current tension in the Eastern Mediterranean between Turkey and Greece is a consequence of Greece’s unfair and maximalist claims that violate Turkey’s rights in the region. Any sober analyst would agree on the unfair nature of the plans that Athens tries to impose on Ankara. These aggressive claims are supported by actors like France, Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) who all have their own problems with Turkey.