Greece slams Turkish decision to send out research ship

ATHENS: Greece on Monday condemned as a "direct threat to regional peace" Turkey's decision to send back to the eastern Mediterranean the research ship at the centre of tensions over energy rights.

The move comes as Athens and Ankara are trying to set a date for talks to defuse the row between the two NATO neighbours.

The Turkish navy said on Sunday the Oruc Reis vessel would carry out activities in the region, including an area south of the Greek island of Kastellorizo, from Monday until October 22.

Greece's foreign ministry said the move was a "direct threat to regional peace and security".

Turkey was "unreliable" and "does not sincerely desire dialogue", it said in a statement.

It added that Ankara was "the foremost factor of instability" in the region "from Libya to the Aegean and Cyprus, Syria, Iraq and now Nagorno-Karabakh".

"I'm not looking for a fight, nobody should," Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in an interview published Monday with Greek daily Ta Nea that was conducted before Turkey announced its move.

Greek Defence Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos is returning to Athens after cutting short a trip to Portugal, state agency ANA said.

Mitsotakis spoke to European Council President Charles Michel about what Athens called a "serious escalation" by Ankara.

The Greek prime minister will bring the issue to the EU summit on October 15-16, his office said.

Turkey and Greece were locked in a row over gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean in August, when the two countries stage rival air and navy drills in strategic waters between Cyprus and the Greek island of Crete.