On Thursday, Germany and France accused Turkey of continuing to provoke the EU with its actions in the eastern Mediterranean. They gave Ankara a week to clarify its positions.
The French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said “it is clear that Turkey is permanently carrying out provocative acts, which are unacceptable.”
Before his trip to Cyprus and Greece, German FM Heiko Maas said that Ankara should stop the contradictions between resolving the crisis and its further provocations, if it is interested in holding talks.
On Sunday, Turkey announced that it would deploy an exploration ship to search for oil in waters it is contending with Greece. Local Turkish media said that the ship ‘Oruc Reis’ left the port of Antalya and was on its way to carry out seismic surveying in the eastern Mediterranean. This was condemned by Greece, on Monday.
Maas said Turkey’s decision to send the vessel back to the Mediterranean was “inadmissible.”