The TV studios of Athens and Istanbul are abuzz with a familiar choreography as pundits, retired military officers and political commentators take up their positions across news broadcasts to debate the latest “flare-up” in Aegean Sea brinkmanship, Stelyo Berberakis of Turkish news portal T24 reported on September 9.

Yet behind the nationalistic rhetoric lies a stark operational reality. This is geopolitical posturing that suits the domestic political needs of both capitals, two feuding Eastern Mediterranean Nato allies.

Berberakis, an Istanbulite Greek born in Ankara in the last century, has spent around half a century reporting from Athens.

A ritual of friction

The previous round of such media battles was staged back in 2020. A few thousand ‘Will Turkey and Greece enter into armed conflict?’ headlines were circulated. Later on, the tensions transformed into friendship following the catastrophic February 2023 earthquake in southern Turkey. Wars of words between the Aegean neighbours may be a tradition, but so is the offering of help by one to the other in the event of a natural disaster.

The present cycle of tensions, laid bare by the veteran journalist, highlights how media ecosystems in both Greece and Turkey capitalise on recurring disputes. To the journalists, the dispute offers guaranteed “clicks” and “reads”. To the politicians, it presents an ample opportunity to demonstrate resolve to domestic voters, without any actual altering of the status quo.

The core friction remains unchanged. Greek journalists predictably put their PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the spot as to whether Athens will move to extend its territorial waters in the Aegean to 12 nautical miles, a move Ankara views as a direct casus belli, or cause for war.

Despite decades of talk and pressure, Greece has not extended its territorial waters in the Aegean by a single mile. Nonetheless, the mere repetition of the debate allows politicians on both sides to project the requisite image of strength.

International ‘law’

At the heart of the standoff is a fundamental disagreement over legal interpretation. Athens routinely defends unilateral policy initiatives (such as the designation of marine environmental parks) as actions fully compliant with international maritime law.

Ankara, meanwhile, views these measures as calculated encroachments that violate bilateral balances, countering with its own legal framework.

Electoral dynamics

In Greece, the political landscape remains fragmented ahead of upcoming elections, observes Berberakis. Mitsotakis faces pressure not only from traditional rivals like PASOK and Alexis Tsipras’ newly formed EL.A.S party, but also from hardliners within his own constituency. Appearing passive on national defence carries an immediate political cost.

For Turkey, maintaining a firm stance on Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean rights serves as a reliable mechanism to buttress domestic support.

Retaliatory statements in the media offer cheap political capital, says Berberakis, adding that the danger is that television theatrics eventually constrain diplomats from pursuing meaningful compromise.

While neither side appears eager to escalate the disagreement into open conflict, the reliance on nationalistic rhetoric creates another carnival of media tensions between the Aegean neighbours, which have both served in harmony as Nato outposts on its Eastern flank since 1952.