Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is due in Athens for talks on Friday amid a tense atmosphere between Greece and Turkey, which has been exacerbated by the neighboring country’s decision to carry out naval exercises in the Aegean while discussions take place in the Greek capital. Turkish ships and submarines have been conducting exercises in the northern and southeastern Aegean, near the Greek islands of Limnos, Kastelorizo, Ro and Strongyli since the beginning of the week. Although the operations had been planned much earlier, the maritime order (also known as a Navtex) marking out the area was only issued last week, suggesting that Turkey intended for the exercises to take place at the same time as leaders are due to meet in Athens for the two-day Greek-Turkish High Level Cooperation Council. Greek authorities have also noted an increase in the number of incursions into Greek air space by Turkish fighter jets over the past few days. There have been more than 20 since the beginning of the week. Athens was hoping that the meetings about to take place would lead to a de-escalation in tensions between the two countries, which were ratcheted up when Turkish research vessel “Barbaros” entered Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in October. Police bans public gatherings in Athens for Turkish PM’s visit Greek Police announced on Thursday that it will be imposing special security measures for Davutoglu’s upcoming visit. Among the measures is a ban on public gatherings and protest rallies from 6 am on Friday, when the Turkish PM is due to arrive, through 3 pm on Saturday, after his departure. The ban will be imposed along the routes that Davutoglu is expected to take during his visit, as well as Syntagma Square in downtown Athens. (source: ANSA)
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