Greek FM: Turkey threat to peace in Mediterranean

Greece's foreign minister called for an emergency meeting of the European Union's Foreign Affairs Council as Turkey vowed on Tuesday to press ahead with searching for oil and gas in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said he had called for the EU's foreign ministers to meet "at a time when there is a clear Turkish threat to peace and security in the eastern Mediterranean, Greece and Cyprus."

Turkey says it plans to issue new exploration licenses for the area despite an escalating dispute with Greece over drilling rights.

Tension has increased between the NATO allies, both of which have warships shadowing a Turkish research vessel that was sent to carry out seismic research for energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean in an area Greece says is on its continental shelf.

Dendias called on Turkey "to immediately withdraw from the Greek continental shelf," saying that "we make clear that Greece will defend its sovereignty and its sovereign rights."

Earlier on Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey planned to conduct search operations "on the western edges" of Turkey's continental shelf.

Greece and Turkey have traditionally had testy relations and have been at odds for decades over a wide variety of issues.

The two have come to the brink of war three times since the mid-1970s, including once over drilling exploration rights in the Aegean Sea that separates the two countries.

Recent discoveries of natural gas and drilling plans across the east Mediterranean have led to renewed tension.