Turkey and Greece were set to hold separate naval drills in the same region of the eastern Mediterranean on Tuesday, escalating tensions over overlapping resource claims ahead of talks in Athens and Ankara by Germany’s top diplomat.
The NATO members have traded rhetorical barbs over offshore hydrocarbon rights, drawing the European Union and nearby countries into the dispute that earlier this month involved a light collision between Turkish and Greek frigates.
Germany urged Greece and Turkey to solve their dispute over overlapping resource claims in the eastern Mediterranean Sea through direct talks, its foreign minister said on Tuesday, warning of the risk of a military confrontation.
“The current situation in the eastern Mediterranean is equivalent to playing with fire,” Heiko Maas said in Athens. “Every little spark can lead to catastrophe.”
Maas, who will also hold talks with Turkish officials in the hope of de-escalating the situation, said Germany and its EU partners stood alongside Greece in its dispute with Turkey.
Greece is ready for a dialogue to help dissolve tensions with Turkey over energy resources in the Eastern Mediterranean but the country will also defend its sovereign rights, its foreign minister said on Tuesday.
After meeting his German counterpart Heiko Maas in Athens, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias also said that Turkey continues with “provocations” and “violations of international law” despite calls by its neighbours and allies to de-escalate tensions.
Dendias said the issue doesn’t only concern the two NATO allies but the European Union as a whole.
Tensions rose after Turkey deployed its Oruc Reis survey vessel to waters Ankara claims in a move Athens called illegal.
On Sunday, Turkey issued an advisory known as a Navtex to extend the vessel’s operations until Aug. 27. Greece then issued its own advisory that it will hold military exercises in the same area, off the Greek island of Crete.
In response, Turkey President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday accused Greece of “sowing chaos” and warned it would be left alone against Turkey’s navy. Another Navtex said Turkey will hold military exercises in the same area off Crete.
A senior Turkish defence ministry official told Reuters the Greek Navtex was issued without coordination and threatened to “place at risk all sailors in the area”.
Government spokesman Stelios Petsas has said Greece is “responding calmly and with readiness both on a diplomatic and on an operational level”, and will defend its sovereign rights.
Germany intervened in the row last month, prompting Ankara to pause operations for talks with Athens. After Greece and Egypt agreed a maritime demarcation deal, however, Turkey resumed.
Greece has repeatedly called for EU sanctions on Turkey for its activities, while Turkey has urged the EU to stop “pampering” Greece and push dialogue.
On Tuesday, the Oruc Reis was located between Cyprus and Crete, according to Eikon data.
REUTERS