Turkey FM warns Greece against further escalation in Eastern Mediterranean

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Tuesday warned Greece against making further escalations in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

“If you take wrong steps, we don’t want to say we will make a mistake, but we will do what is necessary without hesitation,” the Turkish minister said during a joint press conference with his German counterpart Heiko Maas in Ankara.

“Greece seeks to expand its maritime powers in violation of international law, invoking its islands close to Turkey, while those islands are hundreds of kilometres away from it,” he added.

For his part, the German foreign minister explained that both Turkey and Greece seem to agree that dialogue is the only way to resolve the tension in the Eastern Mediterranean, noting that “the matter does not concern the European Union only, but also the NATO”.

Maas stressed that the escalation of tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean is not in the interests of the European Union, Greece, or Turkey.

Turkey and Greece, both members of NATO, have been at odds over their rights to oil and gas resources in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

READ: Turkey has a legitimate presence in the Mediterranean Sea