Exclusive economic zone

French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed France's planned strategic partnership with Greece in the crucial areas of defence, energy, and business and the two countries' "common vision" after talks with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Paris.

Even as US President Donald Trump had a telephone communication with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Washington appears to have adopted a Janus-faced stance in dealing with the Greek-Turkish dispute in the Eastern Mediterranean as it has refused to take a stand on the legality or illegality of Turkey's massive encroachment on Greece's EEZ especially around Crete.

Looking back at 2019 it will no doubt be remembered as the year that Turkey upped the ante in the deep waters of the East Mediterranean by adopting and promoting a highly provocative, if not belligerent, stand.

The German Parliament's legal committee has questioned the validity of the maritime boundaries agreement signed between Turkey and Libya's UN-backed government in November.

The United States is "deeply concerned" by Turkey's drilling operations off Cyprus, including plans to dispatch its Yavuz drillship south of Limassol, a State Department spokesman has said, urging Turkish authorities to cancel such plans.

The United Sates is "deeply concerned" by Turkey's drilling operations off Cyprus, including plans to dispatch the drill ship Yavuz south of Limassol, a State Department spokesman has said, urging Turkish authorities to cancel such plans.

An agreement on maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean Sea signed between Turkey and Libya's internationally-recognized government is "unhelpful and provocative," a spokesman from the US State Department has said, adding that Ankara's claims are contrary to international law which stipulates that inhabited islands are on the same footing as mainland coastline in the delineation of exclusive e

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has long been preparing for his 7 January meeting with US President Donald Trump and is as past Greek leaders pinning his hopes on a clear statement of US support for the inviolability of regional countries' land and maritime borders which Turkey is disputing in the case of Greece and Cyprus.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Cyprus' President Nicos Anastasiades held talks today ahead of a three-way meeting including Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

The three countries will sign a trilateral agreement on the construction of the EastMed gas pipeline.

With regional tensions simmering, Athens and Nicosia see Ankara's moves in the Eastern Mediterranean over the last six months as part of an organized plan developed by the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO).