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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has called for dialogue to ease tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean.

"Turkey and Greece have both been important NATO allies for many years. We need to find a way to resolve the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean based on the spirit of allied solidarity," Jens Stoltenberg said today (August 26), ahead of the EU defense ministers' informal meeting in Berlin.

The meeting will discuss the latest situation in the Eastern Mediterranean, Libya, Mali and Belarus. It is the first time since March that EU defense ministers are meeting in person amid the coronavirus.

EU foreign ministers meeting

EU foreign affairs ministers will continue the discussion, as well as on the bloc's Russia strategy and the geopolitical implications of the coronavirus.

A senior EU official told Anadolu Agency the ministers will only consider different foreign policy actions as a response to the crises in Belarus and the Eastern Mediterranean.

"Sanctions will not be decided" at the conference, he stressed.

The informal ministerial meetings in Berlin are hosted by the German presidency of the European Council.

Greece has disputed Turkey's current energy exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean, trying to box in Turkish maritime territory based on small islands near the Turkish coast.

Joint military drills by four countries

Greece, Southern Cyprus, Italy and France started a three-day joint naval exercise today in the south of the Crete island.

Earlier in the day, three Rafael fighter jets of France and three F-16 jets of Greece arrived at Paphos' Andreas Papandreou airbase, Cyprus Mail reported. France's naval frigate Lafayette will also take part in the exercises, it added.

Greece also held joint drills with the US in the same area on Monday (August 24).

(PT/VK)