“Half a dozen meetings have been held here at NATO Headquarters with Greece and Turkey. The aim is to create a de-confliction mechanism. With the aim of avoiding incidents and accidents at sea or in the air,” Stoltenberg said during his meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

“These meetings are ongoing. And good progress has been made. These are technical military talks. They complement the diplomatic efforts led by Germany to resolve the underlying dispute. The German efforts have led to an agreement yesterday to hold exploratory talks, which I welcome,” Stoltenberg said, noting that developing de-confliction mechanisms between militaries is a natural role for NATO.

“We did this before in the 1990s, and it proved very effective,” he added

He also said that he remained in close contact with both the Greek and Turkish leadership.

In NATO-brokered talks at the organization’s headquarters in Brussels, the military delegations of Greece and Turkey have been discussing the ways to reduce the risk of an incident amid rising tensions in the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey and Greece, NATO allies, are at odds over overlapping claims for hydrocarbon resources as well as the status of islands in the region. (ILKHA)