Turkey accuses France of stoking tensions in East Med

Turkey on Thursday accused France of stoking tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, where NATO allies Turkey and Greece are locked in a stiff standoff over competing claims over offshore energy exploration rights.

 

The accusation came as European Union foreign ministers were set to meet in Berlin as they try to persuade EU-member Greece and its neighbor Turkey to pull back from the brink of a conflict. The ministers were expected to debate a range of sanctions and other policy options that might convince Turkey to temper its insistence on drilling for energy reserves in disputed parts of the eastern Mediterranean.

 

Defense Minister Hulusi Akar slammed France, which was set to join Italy, Greece and Cyprus in three-day air and sea military exercises off the east Mediterranean island and said Turkey would not be deterred by the show of force.

 

“To believe that it would be possible to thwart the Turkish Armed Forces operations with exercises and similar activities is nothing more than a pipe dream,” Akar said in an interview with state-run Anadolu Agency.