Al Jazeera – Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said he expected US President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration to play a more active role in attempting to calm growing tensions in the eastern Mediterranean.
“We have every reason to welcome, along with all our partners in the region, the return of the United States to its central role as a leader of NATO,” he said after a meeting in Athens on Wednesday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Greece and Egypt are at odds with Turkey in a tense maritime boundary dispute in the eastern Mediterranean about rights to search for and exploit natural gas deposits. It triggered a major military buildup by Greece and Turkey in recent months that raised concerns of military confrontation.
The European Union and the United States have both criticised Turkey’s continuing maritime research missions in waters where Greece asserts jurisdiction. Turkey has argued that Greek islands along its coastline are blocking its access to undersea gas deposits and that boundaries should be set around the mainland and not include the islands.
“I believe that Greece and Egypt will welcome and have a positive attitude toward the determination of America’s contribution to the events of the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean in our troubled region,” Mitsotakis said.
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