<p>Turkey and Greece have agreed to cancel rival military exercises that were to have been held next week on their respective national days, NATO's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday.</p>.<p>The neighbours, while NATO members, are at loggerheads over energy drilling and maritime rights in the eastern Mediterranean and the alliance has set up a hotline to head off accidental clashes.</p>.<p>"This is a very welcome step," Stoltenberg said after a videoconference of NATO defence ministers, including Greece's Nikos Panagiotopoulos and Turkey's Hulusi Akar.</p>.<p>"These are steps in the right direction, and it helps to reduce the risks for instance and accidents."</p>.<p>Greece had been expected to conduct exercises on Wednesday October 28, its Oxi Day holiday, and Turkey on Thursday, celebrated there as Republic Day.</p>.<p>Turkey has deployed the Oruc Reis, a gas exploration vessel under military escort into Greek waters off the island of Kastellorizo, and Greek vessels are nearby.</p>.<p>Addressing a news conference after two days of talks on a variety of topics, Stoltenberg confirmed he had raised the situation with the Greek and Turkish ministers.</p>.<p>"I will say that we had a good and constructive talks and allies expressed a strong support for the NATO de-confliction mechanism," Stoltenberg said.</p>.<p>"I welcome now the fact that we have been able to see some concrete steps in that direction with the cancellation of the two exercises."</p>.<p>Stoltenberg also welcomed Germany's diplomatic mediation in the underlying dispute.</p>.<p>On Thursday, he had warned that -- while NATO could help keep the rival militaries apart -- it would be down to Ankara and Athens to open a dialogue to resolve their long-standing differences.</p>
<p>Turkey and Greece have agreed to cancel rival military exercises that were to have been held next week on their respective national days, NATO's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday.</p>.<p>The neighbours, while NATO members, are at loggerheads over energy drilling and maritime rights in the eastern Mediterranean and the alliance has set up a hotline to head off accidental clashes.</p>.<p>"This is a very welcome step," Stoltenberg said after a videoconference of NATO defence ministers, including Greece's Nikos Panagiotopoulos and Turkey's Hulusi Akar.</p>.<p>"These are steps in the right direction, and it helps to reduce the risks for instance and accidents."</p>.<p>Greece had been expected to conduct exercises on Wednesday October 28, its Oxi Day holiday, and Turkey on Thursday, celebrated there as Republic Day.</p>.<p>Turkey has deployed the Oruc Reis, a gas exploration vessel under military escort into Greek waters off the island of Kastellorizo, and Greek vessels are nearby.</p>.<p>Addressing a news conference after two days of talks on a variety of topics, Stoltenberg confirmed he had raised the situation with the Greek and Turkish ministers.</p>.<p>"I will say that we had a good and constructive talks and allies expressed a strong support for the NATO de-confliction mechanism," Stoltenberg said.</p>.<p>"I welcome now the fact that we have been able to see some concrete steps in that direction with the cancellation of the two exercises."</p>.<p>Stoltenberg also welcomed Germany's diplomatic mediation in the underlying dispute.</p>.<p>On Thursday, he had warned that -- while NATO could help keep the rival militaries apart -- it would be down to Ankara and Athens to open a dialogue to resolve their long-standing differences.</p>