By Greek City Times
Greece, Cyprus, and Egypt held a trilateral meeting in Cairo on Tuesday, where the three leaders condemned an “unlawful and unacceptable” bid by Turkey to drill inside waters where Cyprus has exclusive economic rights.
President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi hosted the meeting with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
It’s the most recent summit between the three countries’ leaders aimed at forging an energy-based alliance in the east Mediterranean.
“Turkey’s unacceptable practices and drilling are a blatant assault on the rights of the Cypriot Republic and the international law,” Anastasiades said.
He said that Cyprus would resort to “all available diplomatic means to halt Turkey’s aggression.”
The three leaders also condemned Turkey’s planned military attack of northeastern Syria, after President Donald Trump said the US would pull out their troops and step aside for an expected Turkish attack on Syrian Kurdish fighters.
Mitsotakis said Greece vowed to step up efforts to tackle illegal migration across the eastern Mediterranean and hone their anti-terrorism tactics.
“Our countries, with deep roots in the past, are cooperating over a broad range of issues,” stated the Greek PM who also said that the summit condemned Turkish aggressiveness in Cyprus’ Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ).
The Greek leader said that Egypt is a strategic partner for the European Union and that Cyprus and Greece would work to strengthen EU-Egypt relations.
The Egyptian President also condemned phenomena, such as terrorism, that “create a new crisis in the region” and stressed that terrorism was a phenomenon that must not be linked with religion.
Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades, in his statements after the end of the Summit in Cairo, stated that the meeting was an important mechanism for regional cooperation and that it highlighted the three countries’ desire for peace, security and prosperity in the wider region.
