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Ankara’s provocative actions are endless as after a barrage of provocative statements by Turkish officials in the past 24 hours, two new Navtexs were launched on Wednesday night for real-life exercises in the eastern Mediterranean, called ” Russian fire exercises “.
As it became known, the first exercise will take place between September 8 and 22 and the second between September 17 and 25.
Instead of moving towards de-escalation, Turkey is constantly adding fuel to the fire, creating new tensions in the eastern Mediterranean. The ultimate goal of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to create and achieve Greece in dialogue on its own terms.
The leadership of the neighboring country seems nervous and proceeds with abrupt movements, as it has been upset by the European sanctions that will be discussed at the Summit, in case there have been no moves to de-escalate Ankara until then.
Erdogan: Implement a policy of mutual benefit
At a time when Ankara is intensifying its provocation, Erdogan today made new statements about his next moves, as well as how he views the dialogue with Greece.
According to the Cypriot website SIGMA, the Turkish president, according to information from the Turkish newspaper “Hurriyet”, speaking with his party officials during the central committee meeting last Tuesday, specifically said that “in the Eastern Mediterranean we have 100% of reason and we will not give up claiming it ”.
Erdogan allegedly said that we can “sit at the same table with everyone. We do not give up our rights. We can find common ground where everyone can win. We can implement a policy of mutual benefit. But Greece does not accept it.
But we keep everything on the table. We support the political solution. “Germany wants to mediate, but it must also support its strategic partner France in some way.”
Endless challenges
Internationalist Konstantinos Filis commented on Ankara’s decision to broadcast Navtex before September 23, approaching the archipelago of Kastelorizo and Rhodes, pointing out that we must be prepared for any scenario and that we are at a critical juncture.
Either Turkey has crossed to the other side of the river and we must be prepared for all scenarios, even the worst, which we are, or Turkey, according to the usual tactics of the eastern bazaar, takes this issue to the public as a lever of pressure. In view of the Summit, the linked time is no accident.
The objective is to play one more card, either by withdrawing it to fulfill part of their usual tasks, or by using it and reaching the most extreme point ”, commented the Director of the International Research Institute in statements to SKAI.
In the last hours, however, an unknown episode with the Turkish navy was published, which was allegedly targeting a Greek frigate. 
As it became known, after the search and rescue operation in Halki, but also the shipment of Greek fighters to Cyprus, the Turkish ships decided to provoke the Greek warships in the eastern Mediterranean.
Specifically, the state channel reported that the Turkish warships emitted electronic signals and caught on their radars one -at least- Greek frigate that was in the area and monitored the movements of the Turks.
Great reaction from the Greek ship
The crew of the Greek ship realized the situation immediately and reacted very calmly and decisively.
The Turks had done something similar with the French frigate in the Mediterranean, when Emmanuel Macron later raised his voice against Ankara both in the EU and within NATO.
In any case, the Greek crews at sea have been instructed to be very careful, since the “Lemnos” incident, because the Turks are looking for an opportunity to take provocative actions to help them indict Greece.
Pompeo demands de-escalation
Yesterday, the Secretary of State of the United States, Mike Pompeo, made another call to reduce tensions in the region.
This time, however, the US Secretary of State kept the same distance and called, as he said, “everyone to take a step to reduce tensions and start diplomatic talks on the conflicts in the eastern Mediterranean.”
It is recalled that a day earlier, the State Department had issued a new condemnation of Turkish actions in the Eastern Mediterranean, highlighting that Ankara’s actions are increasing tensions and destabilizing the region.
Washington’s objective is to de-escalate and bring all parties back to the dialogue table, and that is why it was emphasized that there can be no dialogue through a show of force.
S-400s will give us an advantage, say the Turks
With the situation in the Aegean τικά literally hanging by a thread and the danger of a hot episode covering the area, Turkey sent another provocative message yesterday.
A Turkish media report refers to the Russian S-400 missile systems in Ankara, which are high on the Turkish defense agenda. As Yeni Safak states in his article, “Military experts evaluating Greek threats believe that the S-400s are the ones that will give Turkey the upper hand. 
In fact, this post houses statements by TRT World analyst Yusuf Erim, who notes that the existence of the S-400 could be a milestone for Turkey’s offensive and defensive operation: “The installation and activation of missile systems The S- 400 in a Mediterranean radius could change all the flight data. “Turkey would then have the advantage.”
Turkey has received the Russian missiles and accompanying radars, but has not yet activated them. This, among other things, is because the United States is threatening Turkey with sanctions (they have already “frozen” the delivery of F-35 fighter jets) and is forcing it to sell S-400s to another country or at least to do not activate them.
Recently, a US senator suggested that the United States buy Russian missiles themselves, but this is considered unlikely. Russia has emphatically reminded Ankara that its explicit consent is required for the transfer of the missiles to a third country.
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