Turkey has issued an international Navtex alert to carry out gunnery exercises until September 1 and 2 in a disputed area in the Eastern Mediterranean
ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th August, 2020) Turkey has issued an international Navtex alert to carry out gunnery exercises until September 1 and 2 in a disputed area in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Navtex notification comes as France, Italy, Greece and Cyprus are conducting joint military exercises near southern Cyprus. The entire area between the southern coast of Turkey and the northern coast of Cyprus has been reserved for the exercise.
Turkey's Office of Navigation, Hydrography and Oceanography also said the research vessel Oruc Reis will be extending its seismic exploration mission through September 1. The gas prospecting mission in the eastern Mediterranean has been underway since August 10 and was set to end on August 27. The mission is at the center of escalating tensions with Greece, which claims the waters its exclusive economic zone.
Much of the Turkish coastline is strewn with small islands that belong to Greece, which Athens argues give it the priority over exploiting the economic resources within a radius of 200 nautical miles. Ankara, for its part, has begun disregarding the economic zone of Greece's essential ally Cyprus in its prospecting operations in the eastern Mediterranean.
