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Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Defiant to Intl' Norms, Turkish FM Vows More Violation in Mediterranean


Tue 11 Aug 2020 | 05:26 PM
Yassmine Elsayed

Defiant to international norms, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, this morning, said that his country will continue to issue gas exploration and drilling licences in the eastern Mediterranean.

A dispute with Greece erupted yesterday after Ankara sent a seismic research vessel in the Mediterranean with a mission to explore for potential oil and gas deposits south of the island of Kastelorizo, in which Turkey and Greece are fighting over maritime rights.

Foreign Minister Cavusoglu said Turkey’s Oruc Reis exploration vessel would continue its work, which Greece has decried as illegal, and Ankara would issue new seismic exploration and drilling licenses by the end of August.

“Our determination is unfaltering here,” he told reporters in Ankara. “We will not compromise in any way from this.”

Supporting Cavusoglu’s rhetoric, Turkey’s communications director Fahrettin Altun tweeted today a video footage of Turkish fighter jets, warships and exploration vessels deployed at sea.

“Every drop of our blue homeland is sacred,” Altun tweeted, referring to a doctrine championed by recent Turkish naval commanders calling for Ankara to adopt a more muscular approach in its coastal waters.

Earlier, Athens raised the state of alert and accused Ankara of "threatening peace" in the eastern Mediterranean, stressing that Ankara's decision to send the ship constitutes a "dangerous new escalation" and "proves Turkey's destabilizing role." The Greek government also revealed that the bulk of its fleet is ready to be deployed when necessary.