Turkey and Greece announced on Monday August 24 the holding of rival military exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean while the German foreign minister is due to visit the region on Tuesday to ease tensions between the two NATO allies over research of hydrocarbons.
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The Turkish Defense Ministry announced Monday the holding of " transitional military exercises " with the participation of " Turkish and allied ships " Tuesday south of the island of Crete. Turkish media described the announcement as a " response " to Athens, which also issued a maritime notice (Navtex) from August 25 to 27 on Monday to conduct a joint military training exercise with the Arab Emirates air force in the same area. .
Fearing to be excluded from sharing the region's immense natural gas reserves, Ankara deployed warships on August 10 in an area claimed by Greece, causing tensions with Athens to escalate and concern in Europe. . On Sunday, Ankara decided to extend the presence of its Oruç Reis seismic building in this area for four days, until August 27.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday accused Greece of " endangering " ships in the region. " Greece does not have such a right, " he said Monday in a speech in Ankara, referring to the announcement of military exercises made by Athens. “ From now on, it is Greece which will be responsible for any concern that could happen in the region. (...) Turkey will not take the slightest step backwards ”.
The fear of a new escalation "fraught with consequences"
The head of German diplomacy Heiko Maas, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, is due to travel to Athens and Ankara on Tuesday in order to ease tensions between Greece and Turkey, including research for unilaterally conducted hydrocarbons have caused a regional crisis.
" It is necessary that Germany remains in dialogue with the two parties " because " the objective is for Greece and Turkey to resolve their differences directly with each other, " the spokesperson told reporters on Monday. word of the German government Steffen Seibert. " These efforts (mediation) are and remain necessary " to achieve a de-escalation and " find a solution to the tensions ", for his part explained the spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry, Christofer Burger.
Heiko Maas will notably meet his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias, but also Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis before speaking with the head of Turkish diplomacy, Mevlut Cavusoglu. “ We fear that tensions continue to weigh on relations between Turkey and the EU and that further escalation could have serious consequences, ” added Burger.
Asked about the German minister's visit to Athens during a press briefing on Monday, Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas said that any initiative undertaken by Germany, as a great power in Europe " will be of particular importance. ". “ But his interlocutors must be reliable. Turkey must prove its credibility, ”said Stelios Petsas.
The discovery in recent years of large gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean has whetted the appetite of the riparian countries and created tensions between Ankara and Athens, which are fighting over certain maritime areas.
As a sign of the volatility of the situation, a Greek ship and a Turkish ship collided last week in an area claimed by Athens where Ankara has deployed warships, according to a Greek military source.