Greece has informed NATO members at the North Atlantic Council meeting about Turkey's activities in the Eastern Mediterranean and stressed the necessity of Turkey pulling out its research vessel and military ships from the Greek continental shelf as a condition for de-escalation, government spokesman Stelios Petsas said on Thursday
ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th September, 2020) Greece has informed NATO members at the North Atlantic Council meeting about Turkey's activities in the Eastern Mediterranean and stressed the necessity of Turkey pulling out its research vessel and military ships from the Greek continental shelf as a condition for de-escalation, government spokesman Stelios Petsas said on Thursday.
"Yesterday, the Turkish provocations were discussed, on Greece's initiative, by the North Atlantic Council, the highest political body of NATO. The Greek side got an opportunity to inform NATO member states in detail about illegal and provocative actions of Turkey, an alliance member, that undermine not only Greece but the security and unity of the alliance itself ... Removal of [research vessel] Orcus Reis and escorting warships from the Greek continental shelf is the necessary precondition for de-escalation," Petsas said at a press briefing.
According to the spokesman, Athens pointed to Ankara's violations in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean, proving Turkey's responsibility and stressing consequences for the alliance's southern region.
The tensions between Ankara and Athens escalated last month after Turkey's Oruc Reis began exploration drilling in the Greek-claimed waters in the Eastern Mediterranean. Greece, which considers this territory to be its exclusive economic zone, has mobilized its armed forces to high alert and vowed to protect its sovereign rights by all necessary means.
