A conflict have been brewing in the eastern Mediterranean sea for a while now. Currently, we have Greek, Turkish and French warships in the region. First the timeline:
Back in July Turkey started talks about sending Oruç Reis to eastern Mediterranean to conduct research for natural resources. The area in question is to the south of Turkish coast of Antalya:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
After what was speculated to be a phone conversation between Erdoğan and Merkel, Turkey opted from sending the ship to the location above.
Then something strange happened and Greece signed an EEZ boundary agreement with Egypt. What especially made it strange was the fact that the agreement did not cover the entire line Greece normally claims. In the below map, while the bold green line marks the agreement between Greece and Egypt the bold white line is missing as Greece claims it as well. Did Greece seriously forfeited from its claim?
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Anyhow, Turkey saw this as a provocation and opted to send Oruç Reis research ship to the previous area anyways. As Greece turned to EU for help, France ran to its aid and decided to send two fighter jets and a frigate to the area. At the time 5 Turkey ships were accompanying the research vessel:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
As the area gets crowded a Turkish and Greek warship suffered a mini-collision as a the Greek Limnos tried to cut off Turkish Kemal Reis from escorting the research vessel.
The two countries, perhaps as well as the French, never came this close to having a major incident since 1996s of Kardak crisis. What Greece likely fails to grasp is that EU support is not because of EU brotherhood but mostly because EU sees the natural resources as its own, rather than sovereign property of Greece. Macron, on the other hand, seems to be making a bad situation worse due to his vendetta from his conflict with Turkey over Libya. There is real chance that this conflict can turn bad really quickly.
There is a lot of sides to this conflict. First and foremost, there is the issue of legality between Greece and Turkey. Who owns which area? Who has the drilling rights? What's the right path to resolving the conflict? Then there is the issue of French involvement. Let's ignore the specifics of the Libyan conflict and who supports who and how with respect to Libya. Is Macron simply trying to create a presence for him? Does his position have merit? Discuss.