France Sends Navy to Eastern Mediterranean Amid Turkey-Greece Standoff
President Emmanuel Macron requested French forces to the Eastern Mediterranean to offer military services aid to Greece, elevating the stakes in France’s growing regional confrontation in opposition to an more and more assertive Turkey.
France’s newest move in the area follows Mr. Macron’s excursion previous week to Beirut in the wake of an explosion that devastated the city.
By much the European Union’s strongest military services power—and its only nuclear-armed nation—France has grow to be far more embroiled in conflicts across the Mediterranean as the U.S. has disengaged from the area in the latest a long time.
In the newest tensions, France is all over again squaring off in opposition to Turkey—a fellow North Atlantic Treaty Firm member and meant ally—as it is also accomplishing in Syria and Libya.
Mr. Macron’s selection, announced late Wednesday in Greek-language tweets, injects France into a maritime dispute more than potential fuel and oil fields in the Eastern Mediterranean. Turkey, which has created promises on what Greece and Cyprus take into account their own unique economic zones, this week sent the Oruc Reis seismic exploration ship, accompanied by warships, into the contested spot. Greece responded by scrambling its own navy.