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By Lefteris Papadimas and Tuvan Gumrukcu ATHENS\/ANKARA, Aug 25 (Reuters) \u2013 Germany\u2019s top diplomat said after whirlwind meetings in Turkey and Greece on Tuesday the two were ready for dialog to defuse an worsening dispute over energy resources in the Mediterranean, even as the NATO allies traded new barbs.<\/p>\n
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Turkey and Greece vehemently disagree over natural gas reserves off Cyprus and the extent of their continental shelves. They have drawn the European Union and nearby countries into the dispute, which earlier this month flared into a light collision between Turkish and Greek frigates.<\/p>\n
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On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey both said they wanted to solve the issue through dialog following talks with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, but each warned that they would continue to defend their rights in the region.<\/p>\n
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Tensions between Turkey and Greece escalated after Ankara sent its Oruc Reis survey vessel to disputed eastern Mediterranean waters this month, a move Athens called illegal.<\/p>\n
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After talks in Athens and Ankara, Maas urged Greece and Turkey to turn to dialog, though added that Germany and the EU stood with fellow member state Greece.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIn both meetings in Athens as well as in Ankara I kept hearing that the only way to reach an understanding was to start a dialog in which both differing standpoints were put on the table,\u201d Maas told a news conference in Ankara.<\/p>\n
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\u201cNo one wants to settle this conflict militarily, which would be absolute madness,\u201d he said, speaking alongside Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.<\/p>\n
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Turkey and Greece meanwhile held rival military drills in the same theater of the Mediterranean. Maas likened the dispute to \u201cplaying with fire\u201d and warned that \u201cevery little spark can lead to catastrophe.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Greece on Monday issued an advisory, known as a Navtex, that it will hold naval exercises in an area off the Greek island of Crete, after Turkey said on Sunday the Oruc Reis would operate in the same area until Aug. 27.<\/p>\n
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Greece\u2019s advisory then prompted a rival Navtex from Turkey that it would also hold drills there on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
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Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused Greece on Monday of \u201csowing chaos\u201d in the Mediterranean and warned Athens would find itself having to face the Turkish navy on its own.<\/p>\n
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Despite voicing readiness for dialog, Cavusoglu said this could only happen if Greece abandoned its \u201cmaximalist demands,\u201d adding it was not realistic to expect Turkey to drop its rights with threats of sanctions.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe are open to talks without pre-conditions. But, when one side starts imposing pre-conditions, then there are many things we will put forth too,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIf you make statements like \u2018We will defend our rights. We carry out drills,\u2019 if you take wrong steps, we don\u2019t want to say we will make a mistake, but we will do what is necessary without hesitation.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said Greece wanted to talk with Turkey but would not do so \u201cunder threats.\u201d Athens stood ready to defend its rights, he said, adding the dispute was an issue for the entire EU and its security.<\/p>\n
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Germany also intervened last month, prompting Ankara to pause operations for talks with Athens. After Greece and Egypt agreed a maritime demarcation deal, however, Turkey resumed operations.<\/p>\n
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EU foreign ministers are scheduled to meet in Berlin on Aug. 27-28 to discuss the issue. A senior EU official told reporters that the bloc\u2019s EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, would put \u201call options\u201d on the table, including economic sanctions on Turkey and formally ending Turkey\u2019s status as an EU candidate.<\/p>\n
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By Lefteris Papadimas and Tuvan Gumrukcu ATHENS\/ANKARA, Aug 25 (Reuters) \u2013 Germany\u2019s top diplomat said after whirlwind meetings in Turkey and Greece on Tuesday the two were ready for dialog to defuse an worsening dispute over energy resources in the Mediterranean, even as the NATO allies traded new barbs. Turkey and Greece vehemently disagree over …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[2139,2248,237,342,5164,3043,6822,547],"class_list":["post-16296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marine-world","tag-dispute","tag-east","tag-germany","tag-greece","tag-med","tag-ready","tag-talk","tag-turkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/16297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}