Neither would say so but Greece and the United Arab Emirates agreed on a mutual defense treaty that calls for each to help the other in case of an attack, Turkey believed the target of the deal.

The UAE earlier had supported Greece against Turkish provocations that included Turkey sending an energy research vessel, the Oruc Reis, and warships off the Greek island of Kastellorizo.

Prime Minister and New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis has been building an international alliance against Turkey, which includes France, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stepped up his aggression.

The deal was part of a broader agreement concerning foreign policy cooperation as Turkey finds itself increasingly isolated and facing the possibility of European Union sanctions by year's end unless it withdraws its ships from Greek waters.

Sources not named told Kathimerini that the deal has a clearly defensive orientation and arranged for countries without common borders who don't belong to common alliances.

Greece and Turkey are members of NATO which wanted no part of their growing tension until fears of a conflict led the defense alliance to try to get them to back off and agree to so-called de-confliction mechanism, which failed.

While it doesn't specify third countries the paper said it was understood that it's designed to counteract Turkey's attempts to destabilize the wider Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East region, Greece and UAE not willing to say so.

As part of the agreement, UAE technical staff will be trained by the Hellenic Aerospace Industry (EAV) the report also said of the details.