Of Gian Micalessin

Source: The newspaper
Defeated and humiliated. The government of Nicosia is responsible for circulating the bulletin of the Italian defeat by announcing that Saipem 12000, the Eni research vessel blocked by the Turkish navy off the coast of Cyprus is "forced to turn back".
A euphemism behind which lies the sad reality of a Mediterranean subjected to the will of Sultan Erdogan. A sultan who forced us to abandon that blockade with political arrogance and military arrogance 3 of the exclusive economic zone of Cyprus where Eni was busy looking for new gas wells under Nicosia's mandate. A sultan against whom neither Italy nor Italy found the courage to raise their voices, nor Europe, born in the United Nations. But let's start with Eni. Taking it as an example of Italy's weakness is out of place.
Eni is certainly the treasure chest of many important national interests. And its explorations and research contribute to guaranteeing national energy needs. But Eni is above all a company and must be accountable first and foremost to its shareholders. The pirate boarding of a Türkiye ready to move its frigates and decree a naval blockade disguised as a military exercise cost Eni around 600 thousand dollars a day. Continue in this situation in the absence of political-diplomatic assurances from Rome – and above all from Brussels and the UN – true guarantors of the legitimacy of the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone – it was impossible. The more days passed, the more the costs became unsustainable.
But in the void left by all of Saipem 12000 the pathetic humiliation of the Gentiloni government emerges. A government that – just five days before the outbreak of the crisis – received with all honors an Erdogan who arrived in Rome with the sole intention of intimidating and threatening. Despite the shameless bluntness of those threats – expressed both during lunch at the Quirinale and in the meeting with our prime minister – our government has failed to draft a diplomatic response, nor military. And so Italian passivity has become the best justification for the usual laxity of the European Union and the United Nations. But in this context of ordinary inconsistency it is difficult not to notice the perennial uselessness of a Foreign Commissioner like Federica Mogherini incapable once again of defending the interests of her country. And it is painful to note how our executive has been incapable of raising its voice even within the Atlantic Alliance. An alliance in which Erdogan now behaves more like an enemy than an ally while Italy continues, as always, to donate generous contributions of men and means. In short, we have capitulated on all fronts. Fearful of moving our Navy to defend our interests, we ended up being humiliated not only in the Mediterranean, but even in those bodies such as the European Union and NATO where we embody reason and Erdogan the most shameless abuse.