Turkey Questions

Greek City Times - 08 09 2020: Greece is facing two major external challenges- the coronavirus pandemic and Turkish provocativeness, government spokesperson Stelios Petsas said on Monday. He noted that a stabilisation in the number of daily cases is being observed. “It appears that, on one hand, the citizens are observing the measures proposed by the experts and, on the other hand, that the protection measures are effective, as the cases have not skyrocketed, which many expected during this period.” However, he noted that the following period remains crucial for two reasons: “The first is the opening of our schools …and the second is complacency.” He stressed that people must not allow the good results to lull them into a renewed laxity in observing the measures, which would then coincide with the seasonal cold and influenza virus epidemics. “The health system will then be hard pressed and the danger will increase for our loved ones, especially the most vulnerable,” he added. Referring...

Russia’s foreign minister said Tuesday that Moscow is ready to help ease rising tensions over Turkey’s search for energy reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean and rejected any actions that could lead to further escalation. Sergey Lavrov said Moscow is ready to step in and help start talks if asked by all the countries involved in the tense standoff. “Russia considers as unacceptable any steps that could further escalate tensions,” Lavrov said after talks with Cypriot counterpart Nicos Christodoulides. “We would be ready to contribute to building good neighborly relations in the event this is requested of us by those involved,” Lavrov said, adding that Moscow has repeatedly called on leaders in the region to “resolve these differences though dialogue and within a legal framework.”

  eKathemerini - September 8, 2020: Talks between Turkish and Greek officials at NATO headquarters on how to avoid military escalation in the eastern Mediterranean have been postponed by two days to Sept. 10, Turkish Defence Ministry sources said on Tuesday. The sources said the delay was requested by the alliance's military committee. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last week that the two NATO member had agreed to talks to avoid accidents amid an escalating dispute over the extent of their continental shelves and rival claims to potential energy reserves in the Mediterranean. 

  REUTERS, August 28, 2020 France's Macron says he set red lines with Turkey in eastern Mediterranean . Michel Rose ,  Elizabeth Pineau 3 MIN READ ·          ·          PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that he had taken a tough stance over the summer with regard to Turkey’s actions in the eastern Mediterranean, setting red lines because Ankara respects actions not words. Relations between France and Turkey have soured in recent months over Ankara’s role in NATO, Libya and the Mediterranean. Macron has called for the EU to show solidarity with Greece and Cyprus in the dispute over natural gas reserves off Cyprus and the extent of their continental shelves and has pushed for further sanctions at EU level, although there are divisions in the bloc over the issue. “When it comes to Mediterranean sovereignty, I have to be consistent in deeds and words,” Macron tol...

  DEUTSCHE WELLE – 07 09 2020: Turkey-Greece tensions: Erdogan urges EU to be 'impartial' in Mediterranean row Turkey's Erdogan has called on the European Union to take a neutral stance in Ankara's growing row with Greece. Relations between Ankara and Athens have been strained over energy prospecting in the eastern Mediterranean.   Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday called on the European Union to take an "impartial" position in the eastern Mediterranean where his country is locked in an escalating dispute with Greece. He told European Council President Charles Michel in a phone call that the bloc's approach would be a test of its sincerity for international law and regional peace, Erdogan's office said in a statement. The Turkish leader "invited EU institutions and member states to be fair, impartial and objective and to act responsibly on regional issues, particularly the eastern Mediterranean," according to th...

From eKATHIMERINI, 07 09 2020: European Council President Charles Michel on Monday reiterated European Union solidarity with Greece and Cyprus during a telephone conversation with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in which the increasingly tense situation in the Eastern Mediterranean was the key topics of the call. The call between Mitsotakis and Michel came ahead of a planned visit to Athens by Michel on September 15 and a European Council summit later in the month, where the European Union’s response to Turkish violations in the Eastern Mediterranean are expected to top the agenda. It also came as government spokesman Stelios Petsas confirmed that Mitsotakis will be holding talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Corsica on Thursday on the sidelines of a meeting between the heads of Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain. A French-Greek defense deal is expected to be at the center of that one-to-one meeting between the two leaders.

GREECE: KATHIMERINI    -    www.ekathimerini.com           CYPRUS: CYPRUS MAIL   -    https://cyprus-mail.com               TURKEY: HURRIYET DAILY NEWS    -   www.hurriyetdailynews.com