Turkey sends ships to search for oil and gas: Greek army on alert

Turkey announced today that it is sending ships to search for oil and gas deposits in the disputed eastern Mediterranean, raising tensions with neighboring Greece and ignoring calls from European Union (EU) states not to do so.

The armed forces of Greece are on high alert, it was announced in Athens.

Turkish authorities announced that the research vessel "Oruk Rays" and two auxiliaries will search until August 2 south of the Greek islands of Rhodes, Karpathos and Kastelorizo.

"Turkey has increased its aggressiveness towards Greece, Cyprus and the EU as a whole," Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said.

Although NATO allies, Greece and Turkey are in conflict over the right to exploit gas and oil in the region.

The EU and the United States of America (US) are increasingly criticizing Ankara for its intention to expand research into areas that Athens considers its own.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who is visiting Athens today, called on Turkey to avoid "provocative actions" and to join the negotiations with the EU.

"We have a very clear position: international law must be respected. That's why progress in relations with Turkey can only be achieved if Ankara avoids provocations in the Eastern Mediterranean," Mas said after talks in Athens with his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias.

Turkey has accused Greece of trying to deny it the benefit of oil and gas in the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean, arguing that the boundaries of commercial exploitation areas should be "equally" calculated from the line of the mainland coasts of Greece and Turkey, rather than the line formed by the Greek islands.

Athens rejects this as a clear violation of international law.