Turkey

The announcement in Ankara on Tuesday that part of the fenced-off ghost town of Varosha in Turkish-occupied Cyprus will be opened for development by Turkish Cypriots was seen in Greece as seriously undermining the recent efforts between the two countries for dialogue.

Turkey has responded to all interventions on its energy exploration ship in the Eastern Mediterranean and will continue to do so in the future, the Turkish defense minister said on Aug. 14. 

During an EU teleconference of the European Union Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) on Friday, Greece and Germany disagreed on the content of the statement officials had planned to issue after the talks, according to diplomatic sources.

Any attack on a Turkish vessel engaged in energy exploration along Turkey's continental shelf in the Eastern Mediterranean will pay dearly, warned Turkey's president on Aug. 13. 

Concerns that the standoff between Greek and Turkish fleets in the Eastern Mediterranean could lead to an accident were confirmed on Thursday, albeit not in a dramatic way, when two frigates collided.

More specifically, according to reports, there was a collision between the Limnos frigate and the Turkish vessel Kemal Reis, apparently due to a mistake by the latter's skipper. 

Turkey belongs to NATO, is a member of the Council of Europe and has been a candidate for accession to the European Union for quite a long time. As a result of these ties, Turkey benefits from significant funding from Europe, enjoys a customs union with the EU and participates in attractive European partnerships in education and research.

Turkey's illegal activities in the Eastern Mediterraenan undermine stability and security and are a threat to all countries in the region, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said during a visit to Israel on Thursday.

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that the only solution to Turkey's dispute with Greece over energy exploration in the eastern Mediterranean was through dialogue and negotiation, and Ankara was not chasing any "adventures" in the region.

Turkey is not chasing unnecessary adventures in the eastern Mediterranean, but its rights and interests, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, calling on Greece and Greek Cyprus to stop ignoring the rights of Turkey and Turkish Cypriots and return to common sense for a win-win resolution.

Turkey's foreign minister held phone conversations with his Hungarian, Lithuanian and Bulgarian counterparts on Aug. 13, according to a source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto discussed recent matters related to the Eastern Mediterranean.