European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has warned Turkey of what she calls attempts to "intimidate" its neighbors in the eastern Mediterranean region.
In his State of the Union address to the European Parliament in Brussels, Derline called on Ankara to reduce escalation and avoid unilateral actions, in order to return stability to the region.
She said, "Turkey is an important neighbor and will remain so, but despite the proximity, the gap appears wide, and Greece and Cyprus can count on Europe's full solidarity in order to protect their sovereign rights."
The European official stressed that de-escalation in the eastern Mediterranean is a mutual interest, and the path to be taken is the same, which is to refrain from acting in a unilateral way and to resume talks in good faith, because this is the path leading to stability and durable solutions.
The crisis in the eastern Mediterranean will be on the agenda of the European summit on September 24 and 25 in Brussels, amid European threats of possible sanctions against Turkey.
Military meeting
Greek and Turkish military officials held separate "de-escalation" talks at NATO headquarters on Tuesday.
The meeting was one of a series of contacts aimed at preventing any incident at sea from turning into open conflict, but it was not expected to address actual disputes.
And the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced in a brief statement that the technical meeting between the Turkish and Greek military delegations has ended, adding that the next meeting between the two delegations is scheduled to take place after two days.
The ministry said in a previous statement that this meeting would discuss "methods of resolving conflict" between the military elements in light of the current crisis with Greece in the eastern Mediterranean.
Greece, Cyprus and Turkey are fighting over sovereignty over areas in the eastern Mediterranean that may be rich in natural gas, and the two countries were about to resume talks last month after Germany's mediation, but Turkey cut off contact after Greece and Egypt signed an agreement that Ankara said violated its demands on sovereignty rights.
Turkey has sent the ship "Aruj Reis" to survey the waters, which Greece says it belongs to.
A collision occurred between two Greek and Turkish warships that were following the survey ship, highlighting the possibility of a military escalation.
The European Union said Ankara could face sanctions.
On Sunday, the Aruj Reis ship returned to Turkey's Antakya, and Turkey said the ship would resume work after regular maintenance, but a senior Turkish official said it might stay for a longer period to give diplomatic efforts a chance.
In a related context, on Tuesday, Ankara extended the operations of the exploration vessel "Yavuz" in the disputed waters of the Mediterranean off the coast of Cyprus until 12 October.