Videos
03/02/2020
French warships in the Eastern Mediterranean amid Turkish-Greek tensions
Radio EastMed's Editor-in-Chief Ertan Karpazli speaks to Ayza Omar on Newswire about France getting involved in the latest tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean between Turkey and Greece.
In January, French President Emmanuel Macron promised to send his country's warships to the Aegean in support of the Greeks after Turkish seismic vessels entered disputed waters off the island of Crete following a maritime demarcation deal between Ankara and Libya's UN-backed government in Tripoli. Athens argues the deal between the Turks and the Libyans is illegitimate as it sees swathes of Greece's declared Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) handed over to Turkey for hydrocarbon drilling.
Greece claims drilling rights over a vast chunk of the Eastern Mediterranean and has been able to connect its EEZ with Cyprus via the tiny Dodecanese island of Kastellorizo, just 2 miles south of Turkey's coastal province of Antalya. That move has led Turkey to contest its own rights to drill for natural gas in the region, as the current deal between Athens and Nicosia limits the Turks to a small area in the Bay of Iskenderun.
Rising tensions have seen the Greek side boost its military presence in the Aegean despite previous agreements to keep the islands demilitarized. With France now getting involved, Greece has even less of an incentive to engage with Turkey peacefully to de-escalate the situation.
In January, French President Emmanuel Macron promised to send his country's warships to the Aegean in support of the Greeks after Turkish seismic vessels entered disputed waters off the island of Crete following a maritime demarcation deal between Ankara and Libya's UN-backed government in Tripoli. Athens argues the deal between the Turks and the Libyans is illegitimate as it sees swathes of Greece's declared Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) handed over to Turkey for hydrocarbon drilling.
Greece claims drilling rights over a vast chunk of the Eastern Mediterranean and has been able to connect its EEZ with Cyprus via the tiny Dodecanese island of Kastellorizo, just 2 miles south of Turkey's coastal province of Antalya. That move has led Turkey to contest its own rights to drill for natural gas in the region, as the current deal between Athens and Nicosia limits the Turks to a small area in the Bay of Iskenderun.
Rising tensions have seen the Greek side boost its military presence in the Aegean despite previous agreements to keep the islands demilitarized. With France now getting involved, Greece has even less of an incentive to engage with Turkey peacefully to de-escalate the situation.
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