Turkey Withdraws Warships From Disputed Areas With Greece
World
Athens- Abdulsater Barakat
Turkey withdrew some warships and deleted a propaganda tweet posted by the Turkish Embassy in the United States, Greek media has reported. The Embassy wrote in its tweet that Oruç Reis drilling vessel has started research in Greek maritime space. According to Greek City Times newspaper, the Turkish research ship remains moored outside Antalya despite Turkey boldly announcing that it would violate Greece’s water from July 21 until August 2. The withdrawn ships were supposed to accompany the drilling ship, following a firm reaction from Greece. Turkey says the area to be excavated is located on its continental shelf. Turkey’s step, according to analysts, could ease tensions in the Aegean Sea, but Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis stressed that the Greek navy and armed forces would remain on high alert until August 2. It is noteworthy that the Greek-Turkish relations are mainly tense over issues such as drilling for oil and gas in the common waters in the Aegean and Mediterranean, as well as the flow of refugees through Turkey to European countries. In a tweet on Saturday, the Turkish Embassy in the US accused Greek of pretending that the search area is in Greek territorial waters, in an attempt to justify its maximalist aspirations in the Eastern Mediterranean. Hours later, the tweet was deleted and the embassy wrote that Oruç Reis had stated on July 21 that it would begin “seismic survey.” Political circles said Turkey's withdrawal of its warships indicates that Ankara was not ready to risk a war with Greece. Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou met with the National Defense Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos to discuss the latest developments in the Aegean and the movements of the Turkish fleet, in light of intense annoyance with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s provocations. A Greek military source had noted in press statements that the navy has deployed military battleships in the Aegean Sea after it announced a “state of alert” due to Turkish oil exploration activities. Greece's Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said on Tuesday that “the illegal and provocative behavior of Turkey has a serious backlash not only to peace and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean but to the cohesion of NATO and to its relations with the European Union.” Greece has long-running tensions with Turkey over a host of issues ranging from air and sea boundaries to ethnically-split Cyprus. Attempts by both Cyprus, a close ally of Greece, and Turkey at natural gas exploration in overlapping areas in the east Mediterranean have brought those disputes into sharper focus.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2413976/turkey-withdraws-warships-disputed-areas-greece
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