Exclusive economic zone

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).

It took just hours for the Russian government to react to the declaration of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he plans to send troops to Libya to bolster the government of Triipoli led by Fayez al-Serraj.

Ankara has used as a pretext an invitation that the Tripoli government issued for military assistance from Ankara.

On a symbolic trip to the island of Kasos, which Turkish Air Force jets have repeatedly flown over of late as it gets in the way of Ankara's EEZ designs, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis indicated that he wants a dialogue with Turkey but not under threat.

With Turkish provocations escalating in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranen there is a growing debate in Greece about taking differences to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

That is a long and arduous road as it presupposes that the two sides agree about what will be adjudicated out of Turkey's long list of demands and challenges to Greek sovereignty.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu held a phone conversation with his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Dec. 24.

No details of the phone conversation were revealed.

Recently Turkey's agenda, along with other countries, has been dominated with the deal Ankara struck with Tripoli last month.

New Democracy MP and former foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis has proposed that the European Union establish a "special partnership" with Turkey based on the precondition that Ankara accepts the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice in The Hague with the aim of reaching a settlement on the issues of continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) with Greece.

Greek officials have conveyed concerns over Turkey's illegal activities inside Cyprus' exclusive economic zone (EEZ) during Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Palmer's visit to Athens on Wednesday.

Cypriot Energy Minister Georgios Lakkotrypis on Tuesday sought to dismiss speculation over a decision by energy companies Total and Eni not to their begin drilling activities in the country's Block 7, saying the consortium never intended to start from there anyway.

The Total-Eni consortium's drilling activities in Cyprus' exclusive economic zone (EEZ) will not begin in block 7, as had been initially thought, but in blocks that are more likely to yield results at this time, according to reports on Monday.

France's new ambassador to Greece, Patrick Maisonnave, calls for cooperation on multiple levels between Athens and Paris on issues ranging from security to investment in his first interview in Greece.