- Turkey: by tomorrow we will drill in an area licensed to Eni and Total
- Libya, Erdogan: "We will start drilling in the Mediterranean". "Troops in Tripoli"
- Macron: tension with Turkey proves NATO brain death
Share
On one side of the Atlantic, the American President, Donald Trump, who called the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, expressing concern about the tensions between Greece and Turkey. Trump said that the two NATO allies must commit to dialogue.On the other hand, it is Angela Merkel who moves. "Maybe" tomorrow there will be a telephone conversation between the German Chancellor and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This is what the German Defense Minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said, speaking with the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell: the words of German politics were "captured" by a video transmitted by mistake, in which AKK - as it is called in Germany - also defines Ankara's position as "very hard". Merkel herself then said: "We are very alarmed by the tensions in the Mediterranean that also affect NATO partners" and then added that Germany is "very committed" to de-escalation.
Paris warns Ankara
France warns Turkey: the eastern Mediterranean cannot represent the "playing field" for the "ambitions of some". This was stated by Defense Minister Florence Parly, after the start of a joint military exercise in Paris with Cyprus, Italy and Greece in the area, a source of tensions between Athens and Ankara.
Maneuvers in the Mediterranean
Italy, France, Greece and Cyprus will conduct joint military exercises until tomorrow south of Crete, in the eastern Mediterranean, the epicenter of the clash between Athens and Ankara for recent explorations in search of hydrocarbons. This was reported by the Greek Ministry of Defense. Yesterday, Turkey said it was open to talks with Greece without preconditions while both countries are engaged in military exercises. The issue is likely to be raised during the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers to be held today and tomorrow in Berlin, with Athens intending to ask for sanctions against Ankara.
US-Turkey exercises
Turkish military vessels yesterday conducted military exercises with an American destroyer in the eastern Mediterranean. This was announced by Ankara, amid growing tensions between Turkey and Greece in the region. "The Turkish frigate TCG Barbaros and the corvette TCG Burgazada conducted military training exercises with the US destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill," the Ministry of Defense said on Twitter, posting photos of the warships.
The maneuvers in the Mediterranean do not help
The military maneuvers implemented in the eastern Mediterranean "certainly do not help" to attenuate the tensions between Greece and Turkey. German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said this at the end of a summit with her EU counterparts in Berlin. "What we have to find now is a new beginning to re-enter a political discussion and a negotiation", added the head of defense
of the government of Angela Merkel, adding that "the maneuvers that were held yesterday certainly do not help" in this. Germany has initiated a mediation attempt between Ankara and Athens with a mission by Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, in order to avert further escalation.
Greece wants to extend borders in the sea
Greece intends to extend its territorial waters by 6-12 nautical miles in the Ionian Sea, off its west coast, he anticipated, in the midst of tensions with Turkey over drilling in the Aegean, off the east coast of Greece, Premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Parliament where the government will soon present a draft law to this effect. It is, the Premier specified, the exercise of an "inalienable sovereign right", provided for by Article 3 of the Convention on the law of the sea. Mitsotakis, reads the online newspaper Ekathimerini, also specified that the country will be able to extend the territorial waters to other maritime areas, always in compliance with the Convention and the application of the median line where the distance between the two coasts is less than 24 miles , a step that Turkey has already said it considers as a casus belli, where it occurs in the East "
Erdogan:" We will not make concessions "
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, warned that Ankara" will not make concessions "in the eastern Mediterranean and has warned Greece against taking steps that could lead to its "ruin". "We have no aims on the territory, sovereignty and interests of someone else, but we will not make concessions on what is ours", Erdogan assured, urging Athens to "avoid mistakes that would be a path to ruin." Recently in the eastern Mediterranean, tension has increased due to the disagreements between Greece and Turkey over exploration the search for hydrocarbons. "Let no one dare to test Turkey's patience because Ankara has no intention of allowing anyone to target its interests and sovereignty. We want everyone to acknowledge that Turkey, as of today, is no longer a state with to test his patience, determination, ability and courage ".
Guerini: "There is no risk of war between Turkey and Greece"
"Absolutely not". Thus the Minister of Defense Lorenzo Guerini, on the sidelines of the informal meeting in Berlin, responded on the risk of a war between Greece and Turkey. According to the minister, "every spark" must be avoided and the "language of responsibility" spoken. "I am interested in reaffirming the position of Italy aimed at the same time to affirm the principles of international law, but also to seek political solutions to ease the tension. And I believe that this is the goal of all European countries". defense minister, Lorenzo Guerini, on the sidelines of the informal meeting of EU defense ministers in Berlin. "This is a quadrangular exercise that has been underway for some months, we have already made some passages, the Italian ship participating yesterday sailed with a Turkish ship within the normal joint activities that are carried out within NATO". "The Italian attitude and more generally of other countries is to reaffirm the principles, but to work towards dialogue and political solution ", concluded the minister.
The EU defense ministers in Berlin
The high tension in the eastern Mediterranean, which has become a battleground between Greece and Turkey after the strong impulse recently given by Ankara to exploration, was one of the main issues that held the meeting informal by the EU defense ministers, meeting in Berlin under the German semester presidency. From today in the German capital there will also be the foreign ministers of the EU countries who will participate until tomorrow in the informal Gymnich meeting. The appointments on the agenda also include a joint working lunch with the Israeli Foreign Minister, Gabi Ashkenazi, who will also have a meeting with his German colleague, Heiko Maas, with whom he will discuss developments in the Middle East region.