On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Ankara had restarted gas drilling operations in a disputed area of the Mediterranean, and accused Athens of failing to keep its promises on possible talks after the announcement of a Greek-Egyptian maritime delimitation deal.
Greece's Foreign Ministry has demanded that Turkey immediately halt its “illegal” drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean, warning that Athens will defend itself if necessary.
Referring to Turkey's plans as a “new serious escalation,” the ministry suggested that they “exposed” Ankara's “destabilizing role.”
The warning comes following a notice by the Turkish Navy that the Turkish surveying ship Oruc Reis would be carrying out seismic survey activity in a disputed zone of the eastern Mediterranean Sea south of Antalya and west of Cyprus over the next two week period. Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez has said that the ship has already reached its destination, with work to proceed Monday and run until August 23.
Greek maritime authorities issued a response, saying that permission for research was issued by an “unauthorized station” and referred to the drilling plans as “unauthorized and illegal activity in an area that overlaps the Greek continental shelf.” A Greek NAVTEX (international maritime navigational telex system) message calls on mariners to disregard the Turkish NAVTEX message.
Greek Prime Minister…
