In an unusual effort to mediate between fellow members, NATO has stepped in to ease the maritime row between Turkey and Greece, which has been escalating since early June amid signs of growing increasingly militarized in the past several weeks. 

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced Sept. 3 that Ankara and Athens had agreed “to enter into technical talks at NATO to establish deconfliction mechanisms to reduce the risk of incidents and accidents” in the eastern Mediterranean, where a multilateral rivalry over energy resources has exacerbated long-running territorial disputes between the two neighbors. 

A meeting between Turkish and Greek military delegations, initially planned for Sept. 8 at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, was rescheduled to Sept. 10. Turkish Defense Ministry sources blamed the Greek side for foot-dragging even on deconfliction, let alone diplomacy. 

According to a Turkish Defense Ministry statement, the two sides “exchanged views” as part of discussions of “measures to prevent any potential interferences by military elements” during the Sept. 10 meeting. The statement said that “a follow-up meeting is planned to be held in the coming days.”