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Greece has urged European Union foreign ministers to discuss sanctions against Turkey when they meet for talks on the maritime border disputes in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Speaking in Nicosia, Cyprus, the Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said he expected EU ministers to discuss the retaliatory measures against Turkey at a summit next week.

“This escalation of Turkish aggression is directed against the European Union, and consequently there should be an escalation of the European reaction to counter it,” Mr Dendias said after a meeting with his Cypriot counterpart, Nikos Christodoulides.

Nicosia and Athens have found themselves in a tense standoff with Ankara over resource-rich waters in the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey sent its research vessel the Yavuz into Cypriot waters only days after the Greek and Turkish navies faced off over the arrival of another Turkish research ship, the Oruc Reis, within Greece’s maritime boundaries.