ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th August, 2020) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday he would hold phone talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Council President Charles Michel later in the day to discuss the Turkey-Greece row over maritime rights in the eastern Mediterranean.
"This evening I will have phone conversations with the chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, and the head of the European Council, Charles Michel," Erdogan said during a public address in Ankara.
The Turkish president added that his country was in no way contributing to the escalation, once again blamed Greece over the matter and called for a mutually-acceptable solution through dialogue.
Erdogan also said Greece's demand for access to 15,000 square miles of the sea zone because of the location of its island of Meis, or Kastellorizo, is "ridiculous," as the island is 360 miles away from mainland Greece and only about a mile away from Turkey.
Tensions between the two NATO allies increased again earlier in August after Greece and Egypt signed a maritime deal on an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the eastern Mediterranean. Ankara then slammed the agreement as "null and void," saying that Athens and Cairo share no sea border, and claimed that the area of the EEZ was in fact located on Turkey's continental shelf. The Greece-Egypt deal prompted Turkey to resume seismic research in the eastern Mediterranean. Athens responded by putting its Armed Forces on alert.
