Agence France Press (AFP) cited a statement by the European Union Foreign Minister Josep Borrell – Sunday – in which he saw that the Turkish naval movements in the Mediterranean after the signing of a maritime agreement between Egypt and Greece cause great concern, adding that “the recent maritime mobilization in the eastern Mediterranean are the cause of serious concern,” saying that it “will lead to an increase in discord and distrust.”
Borrell considered that “the maritime borders should be drawn through dialogue and negotiations, and not through unilateral moves and the mobilization of the naval forces, stressing the necessity of resolving disputes in accordance with international law and that the European Union is committed to contributing to resolving differences and disparities in this area of vital security importance.”
The European minister made his statement by saying that (the current course will not serve the interests of the European Union or Turkey. We must work together for the security of the Mediterranean.)
It is noteworthy that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced last Friday the resumption of hydrocarbon exploration in the disputed region in the Eastern Mediterranean, after the signing of a maritime agreement between Greece and Egypt, which Turkey denounced as the agreement defines the maritime borders between the two countries.
Observers considered the Egypt-Greece agreement a response to a similar agreement signed last November between Turkey and the Government of National Accord in Libya, where most of the eastern Mediterranean countries condemned the Turkish agreement with the Libyan “GNA”, while disputes escalated in the eastern Mediterranean after the discovery of huge gas reserves in the region in the past years.
