Paris and Nicosia-Sana
France announced its rejection of the "de facto policy" pursued by the Turkish regime in the eastern Mediterranean, in reference to its continuing violations in the eastern Mediterranean, by repeatedly sending Ankara ships to Greek waters to explore for gas.
"We want respect for the law and the sovereignty of EU member states and we reject the de facto policy launched by Turkey," French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said during a virtual dialogue session within the work of the Mediterranean Dialogue Forum, reported by RT today.
Le Drian called for the application of "greater European weight in the Mediterranean," warning that "the Mediterranean region, due to instability caused by external actors, has become a crossroads for all conflicts and a space that witnesses crucial challenges for our future, such as migration and security."
For his part, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias questioned the Turkish regime’s recent moves regarding the “alleged calm” in the eastern Mediterranean, stressing that it was “not convincing”.
In a joint press conference with his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides in Nicosia, he indicated that for this reason, Greece and Cyprus called on other European Union countries to assume responsibility and take decisions.
Dendias stressed that decisions must be taken to make the Turkish regime stop the escalation and adopt a dialogue based on the only basis that Greece can accept, which is "international law and the law of the sea."
On the 23rd of last month, the European Union had warned the Turkish regime of the consequences of continuing its escalation policy in the eastern Mediterranean, indicating that the coming days would be "decisive" in the relationship between the Union and Ankara.
The Turkish regime continues its provocative steps in the eastern Mediterranean, where it revealed through a map it published its ambitions to explore for gas in areas off the coast of Greek islands and recently sent several seismic vessels off the shores of the island of Kastelorizo in the southeast of the Aegean Sea, which angered Greece, which warned that it would respond strongly to Any hostile Turkish moves.