Only a couple of hours after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that Greece and Turkey had canceled their military drills on their respective National Days, Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has decided to reverse this decision.
Turkey issued a new NAVTEX proclaiming planned military exercises with live fire during Greece's national holiday on 28th of October, making a mockery of the NATO chief's premature announcement.
The Greek reaction to Turkey’s announcement of a new illegal NAVTEX that will running until November 4, was immediate, especially since it moves the area of Turkish seismic activity further southwest into Greece’s sovereign rights.
Specifically, the Heraklion station of the Navy’s hydrographic service issued a cancellation directive (anti-NAVTEX).
This is to remind the Turks that they have no jurisdiction in the specific area where the responsibility for transmitting naval announcements belongs.
Specifically, the Greek NAVTEX emphasizes that the Turkish NAVTEX refers to “unauthorized and illegal activity” in an area that “covers the Greek continental shelf”.
Only the Heraklion station in Crete has the authority to issue NAVTEX messages in the area that Turkey has announced will be the areas of operations for the Oruç Reis Turkish research vessel.
Late Saturday night, Turkey with a new NAVTEX, a naval warning announcement, issued by the Attaleia (Ἀττάλεια, Turkish: Antalya) Hydrographic Station, extended the research area of the Oruç Reis and its accompanying warships until November 4 in the sea area south of Rhodes and east of Karpathos.
NATO are yet to denounce Turkey's escalation.