Greece Denounces Turkish Illegal Move to Extend Med. Survey Mission

H-Tayea

On Sunday, the Greek Foreign Ministry announced that it would file a complaint with the Turkish side following the new advisory, which Athens said was in an area within the Greek continental shelf. It described the extension of the Turkish survey as an “illegal move."

Earlier today, Turkey announced it was extending the seismic survey work of ship in a disputed area of the eastern Mediterranean until November 4.

Turkey withdrew the ship of Oruc Reis last month to allow for diplomacy before an EU summit.

After an EU summit, the member countries said it would impose sanctions against Turkey if it continued its operations in the region. Turkey says its operations are within its continental shelf.

Last week, Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis accused Turkey of "imperialist fantasies" in the eastern Mediterranean during a meeting with the leaders of Cyprus and Egypt.

Mitsotakis said Turkey had been using "extreme rhetoric" and taking unilateral actions while ignoring international order as well as appeals for dialogue from the European Union, Russia and the United States.

It is worth mentioning that, tensions escalated dangerously in recent months between Greece and Turkey, long time rivals in the Mediterranean, and between Cyprus and Turkey, which have clashed bitterly over the pided island since a Turkish invasion in 1974.

Greece and Cyprus have also accused Turkey of violating their sovereignty by drilling or exploring for gas in parts of the eastern Mediterranean that the two EU countries each claim as their own territorial waters.

NATO members Turkey and Greece are locked in a dispute over the extent of their continental shelves and conflicting claims to hydrocarbon resources in the eastern Mediterranean.

The row erupted in August when Turkey sent Oruc Reis into waters also claimed by Greece and Cyprus.

The vessel was withdrawn for maintenance earlier this month as a diplomatic solution was sought, but it was later redeployed to the region with two support supply ships.

Turkey in the past has dispatched exploratory missions for oil and gas reserves in waters that Cyprus claims as its own.