Daily Sabah – President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and French President Emmanuel Macron will hold a phone call on Tuesday evening for the first time since tensions flared over disagreements in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Elysee Palace said.
A French presidential official said Macron would reaffirm the French position over the tensions between fellow NATO members Turkey and Greece after Ankara stepped up hydrocarbon research activities in the sea.
France has strongly backed Greece in a growing standoff with Turkey over hydrocarbon resources and naval influence in the Eastern Mediterranean that has sparked fears of more severe conflict.
France in late August had also deployed military jets to the Greek side of the island of Cyprus under the pretext of holding a drill with Greece and Italy, which was criticized by Turkey for violating the 1960 treaties on Cyprus.
The phone call comes after Erdoğan earlier on the same day had a videoconference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Council head Charles Michel over de-escalating tensions and fostering dialogue in the Eastern Mediterranean.
