![Turkey's drilling ship Fatih is anchored off the Tasucu Port in Silifke district of Mersin, Turkey on February 1, 2020 [Mustafa Ünal Uysal - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/20200201_2_40627180_51736091.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
UAE, Egypt, Cyprus, Greece and France condemned Turkey’s drilling operations in Eastern Mediterranean region yesterday.
The foreign ministers of the five nations held a teleconference meeting to discuss the latest developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as a number of regional crises that threaten peace and stability in the region, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The joint declaration said that the parties “denounced the ongoing Turkish illegal activities in the Cypriot Exclusive Economic Zone and its territorial waters, as they represent a clear violation of international law as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.”
Turkey slammed the criticism, saying: “The fact that Greece and GCA [Greek Cypriot Administration], instead of engaging in dialogue with Turkey and TRNC [Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus] respectively on the Eastern Mediterranean, are relying on irrelevant non-regional actors, can only be the legacy of a mentality of mandate and colonialism.”
Statement of the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr. Hami Aksoy in Response to a Question Regarding the Joint Declaration Adopted by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Egypt Greece GCA France and the United Arab Emirates https://t.co/8qPSzd6VZX
— Turkish MFA (@MFATurkiye) May 12, 2020
Last December, Greece asked its EU partners to mount pressure on Turkey after Ankara signed a deal with Libya on the demarcation of maritime jurisdictions in the Mediterranean Sea the month earlier.
Eastern Mediterranean: A new hotbed of tensions at the European doorstep