Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Ankara would continue drilling operations in the Eastern Mediterranean, though they led to a crisis in bilateral relations with Greece
ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th August, 2020) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Ankara would continue drilling operations in the Eastern Mediterranean, though they led to a crisis in bilateral relations with Greece.
The long-standing maritime border dispute between Turkey and Greece escalated this week after Turkey's Oruc Reis research vessel began exploration drilling in Greek-claimed waters in the Mediterranean on Monday. On Thursday, the Greek Armyvoice.gr news portal reported, citing sources, that Greek naval frigate Limnos and Turkish frigate Kemalreis (F-247) touched each other in the eastern Mediterranean Sea in close proximity to Oruc Reis.
"Oruc Reis will continue operating there until August 23 as it was planned before. Not a single attack will remain without response. I talked to [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel and [European Council President Charles] Michel. Merkel is expected to talk to [Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos] Mitsotakis and I hope she will deliver our position to him," Erdogan told reporters.
Earlier in the day, US Democratic lawmakers called on the State Department to impose sanctions against key sectors of the Turkish economy over its drilling operations in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Tensions between Ankara and Athens increased again earlier in August, after Greece and Egypt signed a maritime deal on an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the eastern Mediterranean. Ankara then slammed the agreement as "null and void," saying that Athens and Cairo share no sea border, and claimed that the area of the EEZ was in fact located on Turkey's continental shelf. The Greece-Egypt deal prompted Turkey to resume seismic research in the eastern Mediterranean.
