Turkey on Saturday issued an international Navtex alert to carry out artillery exercises in the eastern Mediterranean until September 11 amid the escalated row with Athens.

According to the details, Turkey announced that it would hold gunnery exercises in the disputed area on September 1 and 2.

Vessels were advised to avoid visiting the exercise area. The Turkey-Greece tensions exacerbated over the past few weeks as Turkey intensified drilling closer to the Greek border, ignoring calls to leave the disputed waters.

Greece mobilized its armed forces and warned it would stand up for its sovereignty by all available means, including military measures.

NATO members Ankara and Athens both claim maritime rights in a part of the sea containing possible offshore gas reserves.

Tensions escalated this month after Greece inked a maritime border arrangement with Egypt establishing an exclusive economic zone in the same area of the Mediterranean that Turkey claims as its own.