Turkey Questions

  A visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Greece, his second in less than a year, is expected to focus on a deepening of bilateral military cooperation and Greece’s plans for defense procurements, while also evaluating tensions with Turkey and developments in the Eastern Mediterranean.  Pompeo is to visit the US naval base at Souda Bay on Crete on Tuesday following talks in Thessaloniki on Monday with Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias. Apart from the Souda visit, which has prompted annoyance in Turkey, the US envoy will also be hosted by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at his home on the island.  The visit is seen as underlining the significance of Greek-American cooperation in defense and security and of Greece’s place as a hub of stability in the region.  The US appears keen to deepen ties with Greece following the renewal of the Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement signed between the two countries last year. In addition, US firm Lockheed Mar...

 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...

  Med7 Summit: Leaders working to avert crisis between Turkey and Greece  The recent history of Greece and Turkey might be described as difficult. The two neighbours have disagreed over issues including migration, religion and the future of Cyprus. Now the prospect of natural gas exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean has the  NATO neighbours in a tense standoff . It's an issue that seven southern European nations, including Greece, are discussing today in a summit convened by the French President, Emmanuel Macron. ·        Why Erdogan won't start a war with Greece over Mediterranean drilling ·        Turkey-Greece relations: Why are the two countries locked in a dispute over drilling rights? The crisis is set to dominate today's MED7 summit. The navies of Turkey and Greece are both at sea and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis are blaming each other ...

Euronews, September 10: Macron: Europe must have a 'more united and clear voice' with Turkey  By  Euronews   •  last updated:  10/09/2020 - 16:21 French President Emmanuel Macron attends a ceremony marking the anniversary of the liberation of Ajaccio of Sept.9 1943, in Ajaccio, Corsica island, Wednesday Sept. 9 2020.    -    French President Emmanuel Macron said Europe needed "a more united and clear voice" on Turkey which is "no longer a partner". Macron categorised some of Turkey's actions as "inadmissible practices" including its drilling activities near Cyprus that are "not worthy of a great state". "We Europeans must be clear and firm with, not Turkey as a nation and a people, but with the government of President Erdogan which today has had unacceptable actions," President Macron said at a press conference ahead of a Southern European summit. Macron said Europe should avoid an escalation with Turkey b...

Aegean Sea - 2020 Aegean Sea - disputed areas between Greece, Cyprus and Turkey                                                Aegean Sea with present agreed 6 miles zones Aegean Sea - with 10 miles air zones claimed by Greece Aegean Sea - if 12 miles nautical zones were implemented  

From Wikipedia: The  Aegean dispute  is a set of interrelated controversies between  Greece  and  Turkey  over sovereignty and related rights in the region of the  Aegean Sea . This set of conflicts has strongly affected  Greek-Turkish relations  since the 1970s, and has twice led to crises coming close to the outbreak of military hostilities, in 1987 and in early 1996. The issues in the Aegean fall into several categories: The delimitation of  territorial waters , The delimitation of  national airspace , The delimitation of  exclusive economic zones  and the use of the  continental shelf , The role of  flight information regions  (FIR) for the control of military flight activity, The issue of the  demilitarized  status assigned to some of the  Greek islands  in the region, Turkish claims of "grey zones" of undetermined sovereignty over a number of  islets , most notably the islets o...

 Hürriyet Daily New, Istanbul - September 10, 2020 Turkey seeking better terms to renew gas supply contracts, energy official says ISTANBUL-Reuters Turkey  expects  gas  suppliers to offer more competitive pricing and flexibility if they want to renew long-term contracts totaling 16 billion cubic meters a year, a senior  energy  ministry official said. More than a quarter of Turkey’s long-term gas contracts expire next year, including imports via pipeline from Russia’s Gazprom and Azerbaijan’s SOCAR and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) deal with Nigeria. Competition from cheap U.S. LNG and the potential for Turkey to start its own gas production in the Black Sea have changed market dynamics, the Turkish ministry official told reporters. “Old-fashioned” gas contracts, which are often indexed to oil prices and commit buyers to penalties if they do not buy their full quota, no longer match market realities, he said, and prices should be set against thos...

 eKathimerimi - Sept. 10, 2020 Greek PM: Dialogue with Turkey is important, but on peaceful terms ·        The European Union must impose 'meaningful' sanctions on Turkey unless Ankara pulls its maritime assets from disputed areas in the eastern Mediterranean, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in an opinion piece published on Thursday. Greece and Turkey are in dispute over sea boundaries in the region, in the latest manifestation of decades of friction between the two NATO allies. Turkey has dispatched a survey vessel in an area both countries claim is their own. We do need dialogue, but not when held at gunpoint. What threatens my country's security and stability threatens the well-being and safety of all EU member states," Mitsotakis said in an article published in the London Times, Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and France's Le Monde newspapers. This month, EU leaders are expected to specify their response to Turkey. If Turkey d...

 Greek City Times: Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will travel to French Mediterranean island of Corsica on Thursday at the invitation of French President Emanuel Macron,  Proto Thema  reported. The French leader seems to aspire to play a leading role in European affairs and has become Greece’s warmest ally, while also being one of the toughest critics of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Macron convened a Euro-Mediterranean conference in which Ankara’s provocative actions in the Eastern Mediterranean are on the table. Mitsotakis will have a private meeting with Macron during which, according to government sources, they will discuss the broader framework of Greek-French cooperation. It is considered very likely that the agreement on the sale of French weapons (Rafale aircraft and more) will be finalized in the conversation between the two leaders. In recent days, after all, there has been a fever of consultations between Athens and Paris. Without falling into the...