Aug 18 2020 01:21 Gmt+3Last Updated On:
Turkey dispatched a drillship to the eastern Mediterranean, where a Turkish research ship conducting seismic surveys in disputed waters stirred a row with Greece last week, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
The Yavuz was accompanied by three offshore supply ships and a navy escort, Bloomberg said.
The Daily Sabah reported on Monday that the Turkish drillship Kanuni will join the Yavuz and the Fatih, a similar vessel, in boosting Turkey’s seismic exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.
At the time the Daily Sabah published the report, the Kanuni was docked at a port in Taşucu, located in Turkey’s southern Mersin province, after undergoing extensive upgrades and refitting.
Greece and Turkey have long disagreed on overlapping claims to hydrocarbon resources in the region, with both sides holding conflicting views of how far their continental shelves extend.
The latest tension in the region follows a move by Ankara on Aug. 10 to send the navy-escorted Oruç Reis research ship into a disputed area of the eastern Mediterranean. Greece responded by dispatching its own military assets and conducting military exercises in the area with Cyprus and France.
Political and military tensions between NATO allies Turkey and Greece have surged in the past year after Turkey sought to explore for minerals off the coast of Cyprus. Ankara, which does not recognise Cyprus as a state, claims half of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) on behalf of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and has repeatedly carried out warship-escorted offshore drilling in the territory.
On Monday, Cyprus criticised the European Union over what it said was diffidence amounting to “a policy of appeasement” in dealing with Turkey.
“Unfortunately we are observing a diffidence from the European Union in taking on a substantive role and adopting policies of deterrence,” Reuters cited Cypriot government spokesman Kyriakos Koushios as saying in remarks to reporters.
He said Cyprus welcomed expressions of support from the EU but it was not enough.
“The policy of appeasement and the messages of support are not enough to discourage Turkey from its illegal actions,” Koushios said.
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