‘Extremely worrying situation’: Greece seeks emergency EU meeting on Turkey

Greece wants the EU to hold an emergency meeting of its foreign ministers, the prime minister’s office said on Tuesday. The statement comes amid a row with Turkey over the eastern Mediterranean.

Tensions were stoked on Monday when Ankara sent the research ship Oruc Reis into waters off the Greek island of Kastellorizo, where Turkey disputes Greek maritime rights, the AFP news agency said.

The situation is “extremely worrying and needs to be solved in a dialogue,” a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

Last week, Greece and Egypt signed an agreement to set up an exclusive economic zone in the region. Greece, Cyprus, and Israel sealed the contract in January for a huge pipeline project to go ahead that will transport gas from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe, despite Turkey’s hostility to the deal. Ankara and the UN-recognized government in Libya signed a security agreement in 2019.