Merkel, in call with Erdogan, welcomes East Med progress

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in a video conference with her Turkish counterpart President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, welcomed recent positive developments in the eastern Mediterranean, Germany said in a statement on Monday.

Turkey's oil and gas prospecting in eastern Mediterranean waters have been fiercely contested by Germany's European Union partners Cyprus and Greece.

"The Chancellor welcomed the most recent positive signals and developments in the Eastern Mediterranean," the German government said in its statement. "She stressed that it was now important to make progress in the dialogue."

[Reuters]