Mike Pompeo

Two US Senators and two members of Congress have urged US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to pressure Turkey into calling off its drilling plans in the eastern Mediterranean.

The American Jewish Committee and the Hellenic American Leadership Council called on US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to clarify that challenges to Greek and Cypriot sovereignty by Turkey "are unacceptable to the United States."

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias will meet with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Vienna on Friday, Kathimerini understands.
No more details were immediately available about the planned meeting which will take place amid a sharp increase in tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu on Monday participated in the informal meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs from the European Union member states, carried out in videoconference system, with the participation of the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, the coronation pandemic, attracting investment and migration were the main issues discussed in a meeting between Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias with French counterpart Jean-Yves le Drian in Paris on Monday.

The two ministers also discussed the European perspective of the Western Balkans.

A top-ranking European Commission official on Friday condemned as "unacceptable" the actions of Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean, noting that the issue would be broached by the European Union's High Representative Josep Borrell to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who is to join a teleconference of the EU foreign affairs council on Monday.  

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke by phone with Turkey's foreign minister on May 18 on cooperation between Washington and Ankara against the coronavirus pandemic.

'Pleasure speaking with Turkish Foreign Minister @MevlutCavusoglutoday about U.S.-Turkey cooperation to counter COVID-19,' Pompeo tweeted.

Congressional Democrats on May 16 launched a probe into President Donald Trump's "politically-motivated" dismissal of a government watchdog believed to have been investigating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The announcement came after Trump told House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi late on May 15 that he planned to dismiss State Department Inspector General Steve Linick.

The Chinese ambassador to Israel was found dead in his home north of Tel Aviv on May 17, Israel's Foreign Ministry said.

No cause of death was given and Israeli police said it was investigating.

Du Wei, 58, was appointed envoy in February in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. He previously served as China's envoy to Ukraine.

A government watchdog fired suddenly by Donald Trump was investigating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said a Democratic lawmaker who accused the president of committing a potentially illegal act of retribution.

The State Department confirmed the late on May 15 dismissal of Inspector General Steve Linick without giving a reason for his departure.