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91. Athens bracing for a protracted crisis

Athens is preparing on both a diplomatic and military level for a protracted crisis in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean until at least the end of the year when the European Union’s ultimatum to Turkey expires in December. Other crucial political milestones will be the US elections on November 3 and the void created until the president is sworn in on January 20....

92. Judge Ankara by its actions not its words

Michael Rubin, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, favors a less sympathetic approach on Turkey, arguing ad hoc partnerships can put pressure on Ankara to come around...

93. Turkey: Russia to hold live-fire exercises in Mediterranean

Turkey has announced that Russia will hold live-fire naval exercises in the eastern Mediterranean, amid escalating tensions between Turkey and its coastal neighbors Greece and Cyprus over rights to search for energy resources in the region. ...

94. Navigating under pressure

The latest crisis in relations between Athens and Ankara is different from previous ones. It is broader in scope, it has a hegemonic dimension, and it is permeated by an imperial rather than – as in the past – nationalist attitude....

95. Cyprus calls for EU task force on island

The European Union must do more to fill a power vacuum in the eastern Mediterranean brought on by a perceived US disengagement from the region, and Cyprus is ready to host an EU task force to achieve that goal, the island nation's foreign minister said Wednesday...

96. Cypriot president in Paris for talks

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades is set to meet French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Thursday, as the two leaders get together amid heightened rhetoric over the eastern Mediterranean...

97. Greek-Turkish ties come under strain

The already tense relationship between Greece and Turkey has been strained further in the wake of Ankara’s leaking of a supposedly secret meeting between Greek, Turkish and German officials following Turkey’s controversial decision to convert Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia into a mosque and amid an increasingly aggressive Turkish stance in the East Mediterranean. The already tense relationship between Greece and Turkey has been strained further in the wake of Ankara’s leaking of a supposedly secret meeting between Greek, Turkish and German officials following Turkey’s controversial decision to convert Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia into a mosque and amid an increasingly aggressive Turkish stance in the East Mediterranean. ...

98. US to include Cyprus in army programme

The American Embassy in Nicosia says the United States are looking forward to expanding their military education and training programmes to include Cyprus, with plans to introduce professional and technical courses in 2021...

99. Turkey says Macron suffers 'eclipse of the mind' over Libya

Turkey hit back on Tuesday at French criticism of its intervention in Libya, saying President Emmanuel Macron must have suffered an "eclipse of the mind" to oppose Ankara's support for the internationally recognised Tripoli government....

100. Gulenist cop arrested in the north

Turkish Cypriot police have arrested one of their own this week, a man thought to be second in command amongst officers with FETO links in the north, while dozens more were arrested in Turkey during a similar operation...

101. Cyprus President to hold private meeting with Prince Charles on March 19

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades on March 19 will hold a private meeting with Charles, the Prince of Wales, who will be paying the island an official visit between March 18-21....

102. Prince Charles and Camilla to visit Cyprus in March

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will be flying over to Cyprus for their first joint official visit, to take place from March 18 until March 21, the British High Commission announced on Tuesday....

103. Greece, US hold live-fire drill after major base deal

At the foot of Mount Olympus, army aviation forces from Greece and the United States are taking part in a live-fire exercise with attack helicopters, marking deepening defense ties between the two countries....

104. Greek-US ties and the East Med

By Lieutenant General Thomas Trask On the occasion of his meeting last month with President Donald Trump in Washington, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis remarked how the US-Greece relationship “is the best it ever was. But it can become even better.”...

105. Turkish delegation to visit Moscow to discuss Syria's Idlib

A Turkish delegation will go to Moscow in coming days to discuss the escalating conflict in Syria’s Idlib region, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday, adding that around 1 million people had been displaced there due to Russian-backed Syrian attacks....

106. Charles De Gaulle to dock in Limassol, demonstrating fortified ties

The flagship of the French Navy, aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle, will be docking at Limassol port at the end of February, prior to the wrapping up of its Eastern Mediterranean mission, Ambassador of France to Cyprus Isabelle Dumont told the Cyprus News Agency on Tuesday....

107. Senate approves Armenian resolution

The US Senate on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution that recognizes as a genocide the mass killings of Armenians a century ago, a historic move that infuriated Turkey and dealt a blow to the already problematic ties between Ankara and Washington...

108. Athens and Ankara take jabs at each other

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias is expected to raise the Turkey-Libya deal on maritime borders in Brussels, after accusing Ankara of blackmailing its way through an agreement totally devoid of substance...

109. Neighbours criticise Turkey-Libya deal

The foreign ministry of the Republic of Cyprus has condemned the signing of an agreement on maritime boundaries between Turkey and Libya, calling it a “serious violation” of international law...

110. Trump has ‘wonderful’ meeting with Erdogan

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday pushed Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to walk away from the purchase of a Russian missile defense system, calling it a “very serious challenge” to bilateral ties, even though he described a meeting between the two leaders as “wonderful"...

111. EU okays framework on Turkey over Cyprus

European Union foreign ministers agreed on Monday economic sanctions over Turkey's drilling off the coast of Cyprus, setting up the legal framework for travel bans and asset freezes but leaving names until a later date...

112. Anastasiades: Turkey’s aim for control scuppers peace

Turkey is undercutting efforts to quickly revive peace talks aimed at solving Cyprus’ decades-long ethnic split by imposing unacceptable terms, the island nation’s president said Tuesday...

113. Minister says migration ‘extremely challenging’

Interior Minister Constantinos Petrides says the numbers of asylum applicants are going up, increasing the social and economic burden on the island...

114. Tangible rewards for alliance-building

Greece's military spending has shrunk dramatically as a result of the crisis, widening the defense gap with Turkey. Successive Greek governments have spent billions on armaments over the past few decades, yet there is very little to show for it in terms of a defense industry. After an ambitious start, state-owned firms such as the Hellenic Aerospace Industry (EAV) and others were gradually choked by mismanagement from political parties and unionism...

115. The first visits to Washington and Jerusalem

It’s only three weeks since Nikos Dendias took over the foreign affairs portfolio, but he has already sent a pretty clear signal regarding the new government’s foreign policy priorities...

116. Pyatt calls for stronger defense cooperation

“The United States has spoken very clearly on the question of the S400 and the F-35. We’ve spoken very clearly on the provocative nature of the drilling activities that Turkey has engaged in in waters off of Cyprus. But none of that changes the fact that we, like you, need to find a way to make this work,” Pyatt added....

117. US removes Turkey from F-35 program after Russian missile purchase

The United States said on Wednesday that it was removing Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet programme, a move long threatened and expected after Ankara began accepting delivery of an advanced Russian missile defence system last week. ...

118. Trump says 'not fair' that U.S. can't sell F-35s to Turkey

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday it is “not fair” to either Turkey or the United States that Washington cannot sell Ankara billions of dollars worth of F-35 fighter jets after it bought a Russian air defense system...

119. US may suspend training of Turkish pilots for F-35 jets over Russia missile deal

120. Way forward in Greek-Turkish relations uncertain