Egypt Denounces Turkey's Violation of Its EEZ in Mediterranean Sea

On Saturday, Egypt has denounced Turkey's breach of its sovereignty rights at an Egyptian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Mediterranean Sea by one of its ship that did a geological survey from July 21st to August 2nd.

In a statement, the Egyptian ministry asserted its refusal of the breach, describing the Turkish activity as contradictory to UN Law of the Sea and "violation" of Egypt's sovereign rights in Mediterranean.

The ministry stated that they will not allow Turkey to conduct the geological survey in an area that interferes at one of its points with the Egyptian exclusive economic zone.

Notably, Turkey has recently issued a "navigational warning" that a Turkish ship would conduct geological survey from July 21 to August 2.

On July 23, Greece has issued a naval alert after Turkey announced it was sending a ship to carry out a drilling survey in waters close to a Greek island off Turkey's south coast.

Relations between Greece and Turkey have been icy anyway. The two countries have quarrelled over migrants crossing into Greece; then earlier this month Greece was appalled when Turkey said the Hagia Sophia museum in Istanbul, for centuries an Orthodox Christian cathedral, would be turned into a mosque.

Greece has said the Turkish naval move violates its sovereign rights. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and said he would talk to other Greek political leaders about the escalation on Thursday.

Nato allies Turkey and Greece are on separate sides in a race to develop energy resources in the Eastern Mediterranean.

In recent years, huge gas reserves have been found in the waters off Cyprus, prompting the Cypriot government, Greece, Israel and Egypt to work together to make the most of the resources. As part of that agreement, energy supplies would go to Europe via a 2,000km (1,200-mile) pipeline in the Med.

Last year Turkey stepped up drilling to the west of Cyprus, which has been pided since 1974, with Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus only recognised as a republic by Ankara. The pision of the island was marked in Turkey this week, and Ankara has always argued that the island's natural resources should be shared.