Amid tensions with Turkey, France deploys warships to support Greece in Mediterranean

Paris/Ankara: French President Emmanuel Macron has accused Turkey of taking the tensions in the region to a boil with its aggressive actions. To counter Turkey’s aggression, France has announced to conduct joint war exercises with Greece and Cyprus. At the same time, France has sent its warships to support Greece. The war exercises will be held in the marine limits of Crete Island. However, Turkish President Erdogan has counter alleged that by sending its warships, France had sparked off tensions in the Mediterranean Sea.

Two days ago, Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was on a visit to France and met President Macron. During the visit, France and Greece signed cooperation agreements as also discussed the developments in the Mediterranean. After the talks, French President Emmanuel Macron declared to send warships to offer support to Greece. Also, the destroyer ‘Diksmuide’ will be participating in the exercises that will be held off the coast of Crete.

‘The war exercises are being held to enhance the military cooperation with Greece, and I call upon all the countries in the region to also offer their participation,’ French President Emmanuel Macron said as he made the appeal. President Macron criticized Turkey’s agreement with Libya on the Mediterranean as also its interference in the Libya war. ‘France supports the sovereign rights of Greece and Cyprus but denounces Turkey, which has been posing a challenge to it. At the same time, France does not agree with the recently signed Turkey-Libya accord,’ Macron asserted.

The Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis welcomed the French cooperation. ‘The French warships are an assurance to the Greek security,’ Mitsotakis claimed. The war exercises between France, Greece and Cyprus are to begin in the next few hours. The drills will be held to the south of the Mediterranean Sea. Currently, the US and Greece are amid the ‘Alexander the Great – 2020’ war exercises.

A few hours ago, the differences between France and Turkey over Libya had aggravated. Furthermore, the French President alleged that the Syrian mercenaries were entering Libya via Turkish ships. To counter Macron’s claims, Turkey stated that France alone was responsible for the crisis in Libya. Previously, the tensions between the two nations had peaked over the matter of the Syrian Kurds.

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