Tension high between Turkey, Greece in eastern Mediterranean

.msn.com ^ | 8/11/2020 | ap

[RomanSoldier19]

Tension remained high Tuesday between Greece and Turkey, both of whom have warships in the eastern Mediterranean after Turkey sent a research vessel to carry out seismic research for energy resources in an area Greece says is on its continental shelf.

Ankara announced on Monday that its research vessel Oruc Reis and two support vessels would be operating in the Mediterranean Sea between Cyprus and Greece until Aug. 23. The vessel arrived in the area Monday morning, escorted by Turkish warships.

Greece slammed the decision as an illegal act that infringed on its sovereign rights, saying the Turkish research vessel was inside an area covered by the Greek continental shelf. Greek warships were in the area and were monitoring the Oruc Reis, and the military was on alert, officials said.

[RomanSoldier19]

[Texas Fossil]

Erdoo is not very popular at home in Turkey, except for his own party. He is desperate to continue as dictator with his “emergency powers”.

Of course, he continues to be on the wrong side of history and with Iran a few more terrorists sponsors he will continue to do really stupid stuff.

[Raymann]

True but on this issue he’s very popular. Because Greece controls virtually every island in the eastern med Turkey actually has a very limited maritime boundary.

Considering that most of Turkey used to be Greece its fair but most Turks don’t see it that way.

[SunkenCiv]

Turkey's top diplomat on Thursday said Greece and Egypt violated the rights and continental shelves of Turkey and Libya by signing a maritime deal on exclusive economic zones (EEZ) in the Eastern Mediterranean.

In an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency, Mevlut Cavusoglu stressed that the text and map of the agreement had yet to be revealed, adding: "However, it's obvious by the given coordinates that the deal not only violates the rights and continental shelf of Turkey but also of Libya."

"Hence, an agreement that violates our continental shelf, which we have reported to the UN, is null and void and the reason why we've come to this point is that countries like Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration, are trying to sign agreements with Egypt and Israel while ignoring Turkey," Cavusoglu added.

"We'll continue to show them and the world that this agreement is null and void on the table and in the field."

Egypt announced earlier on Thursday that it signed a bilateral agreement with Greece on the delimitation of maritime jurisdictions between the two countries in the Eastern Mediterranean.

'Greece, Egypt violate Turkey's, Libya's rights' Anadolu Agency | August 06 2020

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Turkey, Malta and Libya on Aug. 6 agreed to promote joint cooperation, facilitate the return of Maltese and Turkish companies to Libya and resume flights between the three countries, said the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, his Maltese counterpart Evarist Bartolo and Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj held a meeting in Libya's capital Tripoli to discuss the latest situation in the North African country and joint cooperation between the three nations.

During the meeting, the sides underlined the need to strengthen Libya's southern borders and combat human trafficking and smuggling, noting that illegal migration posed a threat not only to the EU, but to Libya as well.

Both Turkey and Malta expressed their readiness to support Libya's internationally recognized government against illegal migration.

They emphasized the importance of the EU's participation in "tackling the root causes of illegal migration by helping the development of source countries."

Turkey, Libya, Malta 'agree on joint cooperation' Anadolu Agency | August 07 2020