A recent threat by the European Union as the Turkish military gets ready to carry out drills off Cyprus amid tensions between Greece and Turkey.
EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell said
The EU’s measures, meant to limit Turkey’s ability to explore for natural gas in contested waters, could include individuals, ships or the use of European ports,
We can go to measures related to sectoral activities … where the Turkish economy is related to the European economy,” Borrell told a news conference, referring to possible sanctions.
The EU would focus on everything related to “activities we consider illegal,
On Friday, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay slammed the EU for threatening in the name of sanctions. He termed them as ‘hypocritical’. He reiterated that Turkey would carry out the military drill off the coast of Cyprus. He stated
It is hypocritical for the European Union to call for dialogue and, simultaneously, make other plans regarding Turkey’s activities within our continental shelf in the Eastern Mediterranean,
We are proficient in the language of peace and diplomacy, but do not hesitate to do the necessary thing when it comes to defending Turkey’s rights and interests. France and Greece know that better than anyone.
In the next 2 weeks, the Turkish military would be holding a ‘gunnery exercise’ known as “Navtex” in the Eastern Mediterranean. These drills will end by September 11 starting from today.
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Greece and Turkey are at odds over the rights to potential hydrocarbon resources in the Eastern Mediterranean. Tensions escalated between the two countries 2 weeks before because of Turkey’s Oruc Reis seismic survey vessel’s entry into the disputed zone between Athens and Cairo.
Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense said that
Turkish F-16 jets on Thursday prevented six Greek F-16s from entering an area where they were operating.
In 2019, Turkey and Libya have signed an agreement by which Turkey has been authorized to access the areas in the region where large hydrocarbon deposits have been discovered. Also, Turkey is due to hold talks and join the European Union in this regard. unfortunately, the talks were in a deadlock for the past few years.
it is to be remembered that both Greece and Turkey are NATO members. Both the countries agreed to rival accords on their maritime boundaries with Libya and Egypt.