[News] In a new provocation, Turkey announces military maneuvers in the eastern Mediterranean

[HiTLeR]

 

On Friday, Turkey announced new military maneuvers in the eastern Mediterranean, in a new escalation that continues to spark a wave of widespread criticism against Ankara for months.

Sky News Arabia sources reported that the new Turkish military exercises will take place in the Aegean Sea, and come days after similar Greek military exercises in the eastern Mediterranean.

The Turkish announcement of the new military maneuvers, which will continue until the end of this October, came in light of discussions between Turkey and Greece regarding areas for oil and gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.

 

And Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu agreed with his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias to hold exploratory talks on the eastern Mediterranean, but without specifying a date for them.

 

Greece conducted military exercises with live ammunition, in the eastern Mediterranean, on the sixth of October, and continued in two phases until the eighth of the same month.

On October 1, NATO announced that Greece and Turkey had agreed on a mechanism to avoid any accidental clashes in the eastern Mediterranean, as part of efforts to defuse the crisis over energy resources in the region.

 

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that the agreement between Ankara and Athens, both members of NATO, guarantees the establishment of a hotline to avoid accidents at sea and in the air.

 

The eastern Mediterranean region has turned into a point of tension indicating the possibility of a military conflict between Turkey and its opponents, after Ankara's insistence on exploring energy resources in areas under dispute with Greece and Cyprus.