Greece, Cyprus, France, Italy to hold military exercise

A Greek, Cypriot, Italian and French naval exercise will be held west of Cyprus from August 26 to August 28, reports said on Tuesday, as Turkey prepared to hold their own naval drill, amid escalating tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Earlier in the day, three French Rafael fighter jets and three Greek F-16 jets arrived at Paphos’ Andreas Papandreou airbase, in anticipation of the aerial exercise in which Cyprus National Guard will participate.

The French naval frigate Lafayette will also take part in the exercises starting on Wednesday.

The General of the Cypriot National Guard Ilias Leontaris posted a video to his social media of the Greek jets arriving at the base.

On his post to social media he said: “Better days are ahead.”

https://twitter.com/ileontaris/status/1298221060958105600?s=20

Greece and Cyprus have claimed that Turkey is violating their exclusive economic zones (EEZ) by sending its seismic research vessel Oruc Reis and a slew of naval escort vessels to research in areas it claims are in its continental shelf.

On Tuesday, the Oruc Reis was in waters between Cyprus and the Greek island Crete.

Earlier, outgoing French ambassador to Nicosia Isabelle Dumont told President Nicos Anastasiades the French naval presence in the area would most likely continue.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.