Escalation was narrowly avoided. After a week of politico-military tensions and an intense diplomatic marathon, Ankara finally provisionally gave up, Tuesday July 28, its project to exploit hydrocarbons off the Greek coast. "Our president said that as long as the negotiations are ongoing, we will wait some time in order to adopt a constructive attitude , " Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said, adding that Turkey was ready to discuss with Greece, "an important neighboring country" .
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The discord originates in the delimitation of the continental shelf around the Greek island of Kastellorizo, located 2 kilometers from the Turkish coast and more than 560 kilometers from mainland Greece. Ignoring the fears of Athens, Ankara took the controversial initiative on Tuesday July 21 to dispatch its seismic research vessel Oruç Reis to this charming little piece of rock licked by the blue waters of the sea
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