Türkiye-Greece Tensions relating to the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean, Explained 2022.

The Türkiye and Greece are the two NATO members and are neighbour countries to each other. The Aegean Sea and some islands separates the two.

• The eastern Mediterranean and Aegean Sea Water are the main reason behind their rivalry.

• The tensions include the political control over the Aegean space, and the size of territorial waters.

• Among the other issues like overlapping claims over the continental shelves, airspace, energy, the ethnically split island of Cyprus, the status of the islands in the Aegean Sea and migrants.

• The Greek prime minister on his United States visit tried to block sales of F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye, after which in May, Erdoğan cut ties with Mitsotakis and declared all other channels of communication between the countries closed.

Türkiye alleges Greece of building military presence on Islands surrounding the Aegean Sea.

Greece claims the water surrounding these Greece controlled Island by up to 3 nautical miles as their own territory.

Why the water territory is so important?:

It is estimated that around two billion barrels of oil and four trillion cubic meters of natural gas deposites lie in the eastern Mediterranean.

The Türkiye and Greece have explored the hot points of the claimed reserves, Greece explored the region alongside Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Italy, Jordan in January 2019, but Türkiye was not made part of it.

Türkiye also explored the region by sending its own drilling ship in May 2019.

Türkiye says it is deeply concerned about the militarization of the islands in Greece control, which is illegal according to the internationally recognized pact.

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the recent tension builtup with the Greece as "provocations", he also said Türkiye will not fail to defend its rights and interests.

"The occupation-looking military buildups of foreign countries all over Greece should, in essence, disturb Greek people, not us," Erdogan said after the Cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara on Monday, as reported by TRTWORLD .

• According to Türkiye top leadership, the country wants to have a peaceful negotiation and want to establish dialogue with the Greece.

Greece mainly accuses the Türkiye of threatening its territorial integrity.

The Turkish news outlet Dailysabah reported that the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he is confident about the support from the U.S. and European Union against Türkiye, reports said Wednesday.

Greece relies on the support of the allies as well as the readiness of the armed forces, he said.

Türkiye, on the other hand, is isolated, he added.

Greece and Türkiye have been rivals since the times of Ottoman Empire, and have shared many disputes related to various claims by both sides.