Greek and French Defence Ministers, Nikos Panagiotopoulos and Florence Parly, denounced Turkey’s illegal actions in the Eastern Mediterranean, during their meeting in Athens, on Monday.
Panagiotopoulos and Parly said that they had a complete convergence of views as regards the ways through which the security challenges in the region of the Eastern Mediterranean could be tackled.
Moreover, they stressed that bilateral military cooperation is at an excellent level, expected to be reinforced by France’s and Greece’s decision to realize annually a considerable number of joint military exercises and training.
“Panagiotopoulos and Parly said that they had a complete convergence of views as regards the ways through which the security challenges in the region of the Eastern Mediterranean could be tackled.”
As regards the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Turkey and the Tripoli-based government of Libya for the delimitation of maritime zones in the Mediterranean, Greek Defence Minister said that any political solution in Libya presupposes the annulment of this memorandum.
On her part, Minister Parly noted that the EU and France have strongly denounced the Turkey-Libya memorandum, while expressing the view that France’s naval presence in the region deters unilateral actions, such as Turkey’s actions in maritime zones that are not under its sovereignty.
“France’s naval presence in the region deters unilateral actions, such as Turkey’s actions in maritime zones that are not under its sovereignty.”
She also said that France holds discussions with Greece, Cyprus, Italy and Egypt for the reinforcement of its deterrent naval presence in the region.
