Greece and Turkey have announced their intentions to defend their claims in the eastern Mediterranean amid rising tensions, New Wires reported.

Greece has announced plans to expand its territorial waters along its western coast and has held the second day of military exercises in waters where Turkey is challenging Athens' declared maritime jurisdiction.

“Turkey will take what is its right in the Mediterranean, in the Aegean and in the Black Sea,” News Wires reported quoting Erdogan. “Just as we have no eyes over anyone’s territory, sovereignty and interests, we will never compromise on what belongs to us. We are determined to do whatever is necessary in political, economic and military terms.

Erdogan added: “We invite our interlocutors to get their act together and to avoid mistakes that will lead to their ruin.”

Erdogan's statement came despite the mediating efforts of Germany, whose FM had conducted shuttle diplomacy between Athens and Ankara a day earlier in an attempt to de-escalate the situation.

Meanwhile, in Athens, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Greece plans to exercise its legal right to expand its territorial waters along the west coast from six to 12 nautical miles.

The planned expansion along the Greek coastline will not directly affect the territory at the center of the Greco-Turkish dispute. But the prime minister told parliament that Greece is abandoning decades of passive foreign policy.

Mitsotakis described Turkey's actions as illegal and provocative, adding that Athens is ready to start talks with Turkey as part of a German-mediated initiative if Turkish seismic works are stopped.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has visited Greece and Turkey to call for dialogue and defuse tensions, warning that any spark, even the smallest one, can lead to disaster.

After talks with Maas, the foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey expressed their readiness for dialogue but accused each other of confrontation.