{"id":44711,"date":"2021-02-24T21:24:34","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T21:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=44711"},"modified":"2021-02-24T21:24:34","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T21:24:34","slug":"syrian-war-being-forgotten-in-uk-as-poll-shows-growing-apathy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=44711","title":{"rendered":"Syrian war being forgotten in UK as poll shows growing apathy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nANKARA: While Turkey and Greece came together to resume talks over their maritime disputes, the decades-long tension between the countries has resurfaced again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nAnkara claimed four Greek F-16 jets harassed a Turkish research vessel in the Aegean Sea on Tuesday by dropping a flare two miles away from the ship near the Greek island of Lemnos \u2014 an accusation that was quickly denied by Athens.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nGreece\u2019s Air Force was conducting an exercise in the Aegean Sea at the time, but allegedly far away from the Turkish vessel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nIn a press briefing, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said his country responded with the \u201cnecessary retaliation in line with the rules. While we are carrying out scientific work, harassment is not correct. It doesn’t fit in our good neighborly ties.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe Greek Defense Ministry insisted their jets never harassed the Turkish vessel.<\/p>\n

\nTurkey\u2019s new research vessel, the TCG Cesme, conducted annual hydrographic survey work last week in international waters between the two countries, stirring Athens’ anger.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe Greek Foreign Ministry criticized the presence of the Turkish vessel in the area, describing it as \u201can unnecessary move that doesn’t help positive sentiment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nIn retaliation, Ankara accused Greece of conducting similar military exercises in the Aegean Sea near islands that are supposed to be non-militarized by international and bilateral agreements.<\/p>\n

\nThe incident triggered, once again, the unresolved bilateral dispute over maritime zones as both countries continue to pursue energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe second round of exploratory talks was expected to be held in Athens in early March. It was scheduled ahead of the EU Summit on March 25-26, during which Brussels will decide on possible sanctions on Ankara over its energy exploration missions in the eastern Mediterranean.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cIt is important that the resumption of exploratory talks between Greece and Turkey does not elicit hopes for a breakthrough,\u201d George Tzogopoulos, a senior fellow at the International Center of European Formation, told Arab News. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe two countries interpret dialogue in different terms and employ relevant political communication strategies. New tensions concerning the research ship Cesme are nothing new in the modern history of bilateral relations, but they further deteriorate an already toxic climate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nTurkish-Greek relations have already been tested with the Cyprus conflict as Ankara ruled out discussing a federal system to reunify the divided island.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Feb. 10 that Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis \u201cwill get to know the crazy Turks as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe harsh rhetoric illustrates Turkey\u2019s anger about the bizonal and bicommunal federation offer from Greece, and it did not stop there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cExploratory talks were supposed to be held in Athens but Mitsotakis challenged me,\u201d Erdogan said in the Parliament. \u201cHow can we sit down with you now? Know your place first.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nAccording to Tzogopoulos, without a positive agenda, long-term solutions are unlikely. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cFor now the best we can hope for is avoiding a military accident, while experienced Greek and Turkish diplomats continue their work,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nTzogopoulos said that from a European perspective, a model of selective engagement with Turkey is being studied in Brussels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThis will continue despite new tensions,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom a NATO perspective, deconfliction remains a priority and this goal has been met until now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ANKARA: While Turkey and Greece came together to resume talks over their maritime disputes, the decades-long tension between the countries has resurfaced again.\u00a0 Ankara claimed four Greek F-16 jets harassed a Turkish research vessel in the Aegean Sea on Tuesday by dropping a flare two miles away from the ship near the Greek island of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44711\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}