Daily Sabah – Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu held a phone call with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday over the developments in Eastern Mediterranean.
Expressing his concerns about the tension in the Eastern Mediterranean, Stoltenberg stressed during the talk that dialogue and reducing tension would be good for the region.
Turkey last week resumed energy exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean after Greece and Egypt signed a controversial maritime delimitation deal.
The agreement came days after Ankara said it would postpone its oil and gas exploration as a goodwill gesture.
But after declaring the Greek-Egyptian deal “null and void,” Turkey authorized the Oruç Reis seismic research vessel to continue its activities in an area within the country’s continental shelf.
The ship will continue its two-week mission until Aug. 23 along with the vessels Cengiz Han and Ataman.
The move led Greece to place its armed forces on high alert and send warships to the spot, demanding the withdrawal of Turkish vessels. The Greek and Turkish navies have been engaged in a game of brinkmanship in waters between the islands of Crete, Cyprus and Turkey.
Turkey has accused Greece of trying to exclude it from the benefits of discovering oil and gas in the Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean. It argues that Greek islands should not be included in calculating maritime zones of economic interest – a position Greece says contradicts international law.
