Greece to boost naval presence off Cyprus 
 
Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos announced on Wednesday that 
Greece is planning to boost its naval presence in the Eastern 
Mediterranean with a frigate and a submarine but said the move would be a
 contribution to NATO and United Nations-backed missions in the region, 
not a response to a Turkish bid to prospect in waters where Cyprus 
already has a license to drill for oil and gas. 
“All our 
initiatives are initiatives of political diplomacy aimed at maintaining 
stability and peace in the region,” Venizelos told reporters in Nicosia.
 He added that all countries in the region must work toward the same 
aim. “That is also our message to the Turkish side,” he said. 
Venizelos
 met with his Cypriot and Egyptian counterparts, Ioannis Kasoulides and 
Sameh Hassan Shoukry, for talks that focused on offshore energy rights 
and exclusive economic zones. The three diplomats subsequently issued a 
joint statement essentially condemning Ankara, saying they “deplored the
 recent illegal actions perpetrated within Cyprus’s EEZ, as well as the 
unauthorized seismic operations being conducted therein.” 
“Any 
unilateral actions further undermine the stability and security of the 
Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East area,” they added. |  
 
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