France Sends Warships in Support of Greece Against Turkish Aggression
By Tasos Kokkinidis -Jan 30, 2020
Greek Reporter
The Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier will make a port call in Cyprus
France is sending warships in the eastern Mediterranean for joint drills with Greek and Cypriot vessels as President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday condemned Turkey of exacerbating regional tensions.
Macron pledged, after holding talks in Paris with Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis, that France would step up its strategic bond and announced an agreement between the French and Greek defense ministries. “We are talking about an industrial cooperation and joint exercises at sea and on land. We would also like other bordering countries to be involved.”
He condemned Turkey for signing the agreement with Libya on the delineation of maritime zones and interfering in the civil war in the country.
“France supports Greece and Cyprus in terms of respect for their sovereign rights, condemning Turkey’s challenge of these. We repeated our concerns and condemned unequivocally the Turkey-Libya agreement,” he said.
Mitsotakis welcomed a decision by France to dispatch war frigates to the eastern Mediterranean describing the vessels as “guarantors of peace”. He added that “Greece and France are pursuing a new framework of strategic defense.”
France has begun to offer palpable backing at sea in the Mediterranean, beginning with joint military manoeuvres south of the island of Crete.
French Navy helicopter carrier “Dixmude” docked at Piraeus
Also, French Navy helicopter carrier “Dixmude” has already docked at Piraeus port and is scheduled to participate in the “Alexander the Great-2020” joint drill with Greek and American warships in the Gulf of Magnesia, off the city of Volos in central Greece.
It is the first time that France sends such a huge and powerful vessel for multinational military exercises hosted by the Hellenic Navy.
French Ambassador to Cyprus Isabelle Dumont confirmed that the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier, the flagship of the French Navy, will make a port visit late next month to Limassol, the only port the boat will visit during its mission in the Eastern Mediterranean.
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