Elections are coming up in the Republic of Turkey in mid-May. The elections will determine the fate of the nation, which is suffering from rising inflation, an unstable currency, human rights violations, and strained relations with its former closest allies.

Nonetheless, if current Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan were to lose his elections, the geopolitical standoff in the Mediterranean would very much continue. Pre-Erdogan, there have been several high-profile clashes, massacres, and heightened conflicts in the region due to successive Turkish governments reneging on their own Treaty of Lausanne.

Background

The Aegean Isles have been recognized as Greece’s sovereignty territory since 1923. In the Treaty of Lausanne, written and backed by the victorious Kemalist government in the Greco-Turkish War, the Isles would be recognized as a sovereign part of the Hellenic Republic in return for Athens recognizing Ankara’s rule on Asia Minor.