Turkey Questions

 eKathimerini: Turkey issues navigational warning for live-fire exercise TAGS: Turkey ,  Security Turkey on Saturday issued a navigational telex for a naval exercise with live fire, reserving a sea area between the Greek islands of Rhodes and Kastellorizo. The Turkish navtex said it will be holding a “gunnery exercise” on September 29.  The announcement came ahead of the scheduled resumption of exploratory contacts between Greek and Turkish officials in Istanbul next week.

  Erdogan, Merkel, Michel to hold video  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will on Tuesday hold a video conference with European Council President Charles Michel and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Kathimerini has learned. The video conference, which will take place at 3 p.m. Brussels time, has been scheduled ahead of a summit of EU leaders on Sept. 24-25 where they will look for ways to defuse tensions with Turkey in the Mediterranean. ADVERTISING Ads by  Teads German Ambassador to Greece Ernst Reichel said last week that Merkel has made it her personal business to prevent military conflict between Greece and Turkey and for them to achieve a peaceful demarcation of their maritime zones.  

  Berlin pushing Greece, Turkey dialogue VASSILIS NEDOS ·          Berlin’s intense efforts to get talks between Athens and Ankara under way were underlined by Wednesday’s teleconference German Chancellor Angela Merkel had with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a few hours after one with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. According to Anadolu, citing leaks from the Turkish presidency, Erdogan told Merkel he was determined to protect Ankara’s interests in the Eastern Mediterranean.  Anadolu further reported that Erdogan pointed out that the differences in the Eastern Mediterranean can be resolved through negotiations as long as there is a balanced approach and a “fair and consistent” attitude of the European states.  Turkish sources also said that Erdogan had asked Merkel for assurances that this time there would be no obstacles to the negotiations, which were reportedly given by the German chancellor. Berlin ap...

 eKathimerini - September 12, 2020: Ankara undermining hopes of dialogue VASSILIS NEDOS ·        A day after the MED7 summit of southern European countries pledged its full support to Greece and Cyprus, to Turkey’s intense dismay, Ankara responded by essentially dashing any hopes of a dialogue to de-escalate tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean by setting a raft of preconditions which Athens deems unacceptable. In a fresh indication that the chasm between the two countries doesn’t appear to be getting bridged any time soon, the representative of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Hami Aksoy, said that in order for a de-escalation to take place it is imperative that Greece withdraws all its military vessels that it has deployed near the Oruc Reis seismic research vessel, supports NATO’s conflict prevention initiative, halts the militarization of the islands of the East Aegean and Kastellorizo, and stops increasing pressure on the “Turkish” minority in Western...

Mediterranean leaders ready for EU sanctions on ‘confrontational’ Turkey Leaders of seven European countries on the Mediterranean said on Thursday they were ready to back EU sanctions against Turkey if Ankara shunned dialogue on escalating tensions in the sea.

 Bloomberg - September 10, 2020: Greece Presses EU to Draw Up ‘Severe’ Sanctions on Turkey By  Nikos Chrysoloras  and  Jonathan Stearns September 10, 2020, 4:00 AM GMT+2  Updated on  September 10, 2020, 6:44 PM GMT+2 ·          Penalties on Turkey could unlock EU push to target Belarus ·          27-nation bloc seeks to show unity on two geopolitical fronts   Greece pressed its European Union partners to draw up “severe” sanctions against Turkey over its energy exploration in the eastern Mediterranean, a move that could unlock separate EU efforts to penalize Belarus. Greek Alternate Foreign Minister Miltiades Varvitsiotis said Turkey’s hunt for natural gas in waters claimed by Greece and Cyprus is part of aggressive geopolitical posturing by the Turkish government. “Turkey is a major destabilizing factor in the wider area,” Varvitsiotis told a Europe...