Pentagon 'concerned' by tensions between Turkey, France

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The Pentagon has stated that it is "concerned" by "incidents" in the eastern Mediterranean amid tensions between France and Turkey, urging the NATO allies to find a solution.

Spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman told reporters that Paris and Ankara "are both incredibly important NATO allies," stressing the US "would like to see the tensions lowered."

"We would like to see them continue to work together and find solutions that do not involve the necessity of having warships, or having aircraft deployed in a less than cooperative environment," Hoffman said.

Joint military drills

Amid mounting tensions in the region, Greece's defense sources announced joint military drills yesterday (August 13) in the Eastern Mediterranean along with France.

The exercise, which includes two French Rafale fighter jets, was conducted off the island of Crete after France announced Wednesday (August 12) it would beef up military presence in the region.

France's decision came after President Emmanuel Macron and Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had a telephone call to discuss the latest situation in the region.

France said it was sending two Rafale fighter jets and the naval frigate Lafayette to the Eastern Mediterranean.

The drills follow Turkey resuming energy exploration in the eastern Mediterranean on Monday, just after the signing of the pact between Greece and Egypt, which Ankara called "null and void."

What happened?

As part of its hydrocarbon exploration activities, Turkey announced via Navtex the drillship MTA Oruç Reis' new seismic research activity in the Eastern Mediterranean starting August 10.

The Oruç Reis, along with the ships Ataman and Cengiz Han, will continue seismic activities in the Eastern Mediterranean through August 23.

In late June, after Athens objected to Ankara's seismic survey in an area south of the island of Meis, or Kastellorizo. Turkey had subsequently announced that it suspended the drilling activities after diplomatic efforts by Germany.

Following Greece's move last week to sign a maritime delimitation agreement with Egypt, Turkey decided to resume drilling.